Maglev unlikely for Beijing-Shanghai railroad
(peopledaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2004-11-27 10:36

China is unlikely to use magnetic levitation trains for a high-speed rail link between Beijing and Shanghai, said Xu Kuangdi, vice chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and head of the Chinese Academy of Engineering on November 25, according to the Chinese News Service.

Xu disclosed this when he made a speech at the China Foreign Affairs University.

He said, although magnetic levitation technology is very advanced, the investment is too large and the engineering requirements are very high. Although the Shanghai maglev has operated smoothly, the Beijing-Shanghai railroad is more than 1,300 kilometers, passing over many rivers, there are some technical risks in using magnetic levitation technology, in which a train floating on a magnetic field can hit speeds of up to 500 kilometers per hour.

Only second to the Three Gorges Project, the No 2 biggest project - Beijing-Shanghai railroad -- has been in dispute for several years over weather to use magnetic levitation trains or the traditional wheel track technology. It is reported that if using the traditional train technology for the planned link between Beijing and Shanghai with train speed reaching 250 to 300 kilometers per hour it will take four or five hours to cover the distance with an investment of some 130 billion yuan or 15.7 billion US dollars; if using the magnetic levitation technology it will take only three hours to cover the distance with an investment of some 400 billion yuan or 48.4 billion US dollars. And so far there has been no successful commercial example in the world for such long magnetic levitation railroad.

Xu also disclosed although the magnetic levitation trains will not be used for the high-speed rail link between Beijing and Shanghai, the trains would be used for the more than 170-kilometer rail link between Shanghai and Hangzhou. After completion, it will take only 26 minutes to cover the distance between Pudong airport in Shanghai and Hangzhou.

When talking of the difference of magnetic levitation technology between Japan and Germany, Xu said Japan uses super-conducting material with high cost while Germany adopts the computer technology that transmit power in turn with low cost. As a result Shanghai has chosen the German technology.

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