1/2/2024 0 Comments Us highspeed railThe Japanese government has agreed to loan 30 billion USD for the section from Nagoya to Osaka because it is in the government’s interest, but otherwise the project is funded and financed by CJR. It is an expensive project, costing 60 billion USD from Tokyo to Nagoya, and another 30 billion US dollars to Osaka. The company needed only to buy the land for above-ground stations and ventilation shafts, for example”, explains Patterson “That’s how they were able to acquire the land to build the Chuo Shinkansen line. In Japan, the government decided that from 40 metres and below the surface (or ten metres below the lowest foundation), land is free if a construction project is in the national interest. L0 series Maglev train at Yamanashi test track, image: Saruno Hirobano via Wikipedia Going underground The SCMaglev can go steeper than a conventional train at high speed”, explains Patterson. It will travel high up into the mountains between Tokyo and Nagoya, to reduce costs of deep mountain tunnels. “It will go underground through Tokyo, underground through Nagoya and underground into Osaka. Called the Chūō Shinkansen, the line will run between Tokyo and Osaka with L0 series Maglev trains. “The new Super Conducting Maglev (SCMAGLEV) train that Japan is building is going to be 85 percent tunnel for this exact reason.”Ĭentral Japan Railway Company is currently constructing its line using SCMAGLEV technology, with levitated trains that can reach 600 kilometers per hour (operating speed is over 500 km/h). “The HS2 project in the UK also has this problem”, says Patterson. Next to railways, this also includes pipelines, and high voltage lines. In democratic countries in general, building linear infrastructure is very difficult, he explains. “Europe now has much existing infrastructure, and it is difficult to build completely new dedicated lines for high-speed, since people don’t want it built through their farmland, for example.” However, they were rebuilt in the same way, for mixed traffic. Europe had many railroads built, and many were also destroyed or damaged in World War II. “The European rail sector is mature, in many ways”, says Patterson. In Europe, the railways developed differently. Now, the trip takes two and a half hours by improving the trains and signaling systems, with essentially the same civil infrastructure.” The Shinkansen tracks have been maintained since that time, without missing a day of service apart from the occasional typhoon. “In 1964, when the first Shinkansen opened for the Olympics in Tokyo, it went from taking six hours from Tokyo to Osaka to four and a half with the new bullet train. After the war, those plans were resurrected and they more easily could build new infrastructure. The Japanese already had plans to build a bullet train before the war”, says Patterson. How did the Japanese network come to be? “The infrastructure in Japan was destroyed by the U.S. Tokaido Shinkansen running between Tokyo and Osaka, image: JR Central High-speed rail in Japan These high-speed trains are integrated and also use conventional and shared-use tracks, mainly to go in and out of cities. There are parts of European high-speed lines that are dedicated for high-speed, such as the LGV-lines in France. This emphasises using existing infrastructure to the max and expanding the network. The high-speed rail that has developed in Europe is based upon the concept of interoperability, which allows the track to be shared with conventional, slower trains and freight trains. It runs frequent, as often as four-minute intervals at rush hours and 10 min off peak on the Tokaido line. This is the primary reason for the Shinkansen’s safe operations, with zero fatal accidents. So what is the difference between these trains in Asia and the high-speed trains in Europe, such as Thalys and Eurostar? High-speed rail such as the Shinkansen are a standalone system, on a fully dedicated line without level crossings. China also has many dedicated high-speed lines, and Taiwan has a very successful Japanese style dedicated high-speed rail system between the capital Taipei and Kaohsiung in the South. (CJR), one of the five operators of the Shinkansen network. Patterson is Vice Chairman of the International High Speed Rail Association (IHRA) and is also a board member of Central Japan Railway Co. “Japan’s Shinkansen network has millions of passengers each year, and is profitable”, says Torkel Patterson. Dedicated in this case means that the track is built for high-speed trains, and is not shared with regular or freight trains. In Japan, dedicated high-speed rail lines cover almost the entire country.
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