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Why are maglev trains still rare? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 1 year ago by frightful_hobgoblin@lemmy.ml to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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They were invented decades ago.

They have fewer moving parts than wheelbois.

They require less maintenance.

There's obviously some bottleneck in expanding maglev technology, but what is it?

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[-] jackmarxist@hexbear.net 4 points 1 year ago

They're quite expensive for a start and standard HSR does it's job just fine.

Japan is the only country that's building actual Maglev lines. It's feasible in Japan due to popularity of rail and distance between the endpoints makes it worth it.

China has Maglev tech and also some demo Maglev lines. But they are committed to standard rail because it's cheaper to build using a standardised process and works good enough on large distance travel required in China.

In the US, it's nearly impossible because Petroleum companies and such hate the idea of cheap and efficient transport and just bribe the politicians to be against it.

[-] markr@hexbear.net 3 points 1 year ago

I rode the maglev to the shanghai airport, it was awesome. The newer version in Beijing is significantly faster. But yeah super expensive to build.

[-] lemann@lemmy.one 1 points 1 year ago

How was the ride? Smooth/bumpy/not feel much movement?

My experience on a much slower HSR is being thrown around in the seat at certain times, wouldn't want to be carrying an open drink of any kind tbh lol

[-] markr@hexbear.net -1 points 1 year ago

Actually it was very smooth.

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this post was submitted on 08 Sep 2023

233 points (94.3% liked)

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