Maglev trains to cut Tokyo-Osaka trip to 67 minutes

Wednesday 14th October, 06:48 AM JST

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

› Login to comment

Latest 15 of 29 Total Comments Show All

jason6 at 02:32 PM JST - 14th October

Here's a simple cost-benefit analysis that i do every time i go to Tokyo; plane, train or automobile (bus). Plane: Kobe to Haneda, ~1 hour, ~10000yen Train: Shinkansen Kobe to Tokyo, ~2.5 hours, ~17000yen Bus: Nightbus Osaka to Shinjuku, ~8 hours, ~5000yen (plus 30 minutes, 400yen to go to Osaka)

As you can see, I can opt for speed or value, but the shinkansen is always inferior the plane ride. This may change in the future.

The maglev reduces the travel time to roughly that of the airplane, so they will become a much more competitive choice. It will still be more expensive though, so i suspect it will come down to convenience factors like proximity to the customer and departure frequencies.
bgaudry at 03:42 PM JST - 14th October

Please don't do this, as we'll all end up paying for it in ridiculous local train fares. Use the money to lower fares on local trains and shinkansen lines instead.
888naff at 03:46 PM JST - 14th October

jason6 your simple analysis is surely tooo simple as taking the plane is not that quick because of teh extra time getting to the "remote" airport locations and time for checkin and also add baggage limitations?
rajakumar at 03:50 PM JST - 14th October

Our love affairs with trains,can't be held back.
timorborder at 03:56 PM JST - 14th October

Couple of interesting issues here.

On one hand, there is the issue of cost. If the Maglev idea as a commercial proposition ever gets off the ground,　the central government is going to have to spend a whole heap of money. If this happens, then you can say goodbye to any ideas regarding public expenditure reform. The big general contractors (and their interest groups/politicians) will fall over themselves to get a piece of this action. It will be back to the same growth model used by the LDP. Basically, buy off interest groups and maintain government.

The second issue to be considered, however, is the issue of rail technology in Japan. This is a country that has a proud history in terms of leading the world in rail technology. Let's face it, the Shinkansen Network has been around for years. More recently, however, due to various issues including an unwillingness to share technologies, the Japanese model of high speed railway transport has been overshadowed by the technologies developed by other countries. While saying this, however, Japan still has a very strong position regarding such issues. The question is, however, what should Japan do in the future to ensure that it maintains a degree of superiority in the railway technology industry? Is Maglev (and its underlying technologies) the answer?
Azrael at 04:15 PM JST - 14th October

Maglev is the answer! ^0^! It's better for the environment AND the people. If the Chinese manage to keep the Maglev fare cheap, why wouldn't Japan be able to do the same?
bgaudry at 04:48 PM JST - 14th October

azrael-- Japan's population is much smaller and much more depend on cars
Beelzebub at 04:52 PM JST - 14th October

People came to Japan from all over the world just to ride on the Shinkansen. Even today one can take it without having to go through the inconvenience and indignity of airport security. It will raise Japan's profile and ultimately turn a profit. And what the heck, it's only money...
mareo2 at 05:43 PM JST - 14th October

First and foremost, JR is a busisness. Is not armed forces, police or schools that are that are priorities for any gov. That money can be better expendend on public security, education and hospitals, even nuclear reactors are a better investment from an strategic point of view in the long term. In my opinbion JR must to get capital for these on private investors.
michaelqtodd at 06:30 PM JST - 14th October

Tokyo gets a new burb. People were probably sitting round debating like this when they first mooted the Shinkansen around 40 years ago or whenever it was. Bring it on.This is Japan.Of course we must have the best trains
FromEurope at 10:13 PM JST - 14th October

If they put the price lower than the flight ticket, there will be the passengers who take Magleg train in stead of the plane. So I suppose there will be the needs for this train.
zurcronium at 10:38 PM JST - 14th October

The shinkansen has never paid for itself, the only line that does make money of course is tokyo-osaka. The rest are money losers as this super train would be as well. But since the construction companies own the Diet this will happen.

i will ride on it if the time gets down to 60 minutes. 67 minutes is still too long . . .

Oh, the Shanghai train is purely for show purposes. It really is useless as it terminates in the middle of nowhere.
takobeya at 12:35 AM JST - 15th October

Good grief, this story has been around for years and years.

The fact is the population of Japan is declining and projected to continue declining for the foreseeable future (unless Japan reverses its policy on immigration, which is unlikely). The demand for additional capacity is just not there.
bdiego at 03:46 AM JST - 15th October

Taking a plane from Kobe to Haneda takes at least 2 hours, just FYI. 1 hour to sit on your butt in the lobby. Then there's the other 1 hour getting to and from the airport. Periodically, you will need to wait 2-4 hours more as the plane will be late.
jason6 at 01:02 PM JST - 15th October

888naff and bdiego: you guys are right, sorry. i've only taken the plane once from Tokyo to Kobe, but the plane ride itself is pretty fast. despite the longer time though, you can see that the plane service is still 7000yen cheaper than Shinkansen and the travel times are comparable (shinkansen does sometimes get delayed too).