Japan’s $64BN Gamble on Levitating Bullet Trains Explained

[Music] this is a japanese bullet train if you want to get somewhere in this country fast then it's got you covered an engineering marvel formed in the aftermath of the second world war it's carried more than 10 billion passengers at speeds of up to 320 kilometers an hour and helped create the world's third largest economy but that's not enough for japan and the country is now building the world's fastest passenger train a system that'll move at twice the speed of the bullet trains and cut journey times in half all by doing away with one fairly fundamental component wheels using magnetic levitation these new trains will hover 10 centimeters above the track eliminating the friction that comes with being in contact with the rails but the new line has proved deeply controversial grappling with delays skyrocketing construction costs and a fierce debate over environmental concerns now nearing completion the world is waiting to see whether the project will successfully hover above its challenges and make a quantum leap for transportation or prove a step too far [Music] japan kind of knows a thing or two about trains the country was the first in the world to develop high-speed rail with the construction of the takaido shinkansen line between tokyo and osaka in 1959 back then the japanese people and indeed the rest of the world were skeptical of the country's massive investment into rail and many thought it would soon be outdated in an exciting new era of air travel and highways nevertheless the first high-speed line opened in october 1964 ready for tokyo's first hosting of the olympics it cut the travel time between japan's two biggest cities from nearly seven hours to just under four proving an instant success the lion served more than 100 million passengers in less than three years that same trip on a modern bullet train now takes two and a half hours when the new chauchin canton line opens it'll be done in just 67 minutes at full speed the chelsea cans and trains will move at 500 kilometers an hour although a 2015 test run hit a world record 603 kilometers an hour now it's pretty widely agreed that those kind of speeds are basically impossible for a conventional bullet train to hit they eventually will become limited by the friction that's created by their wheels to solve that problem japanese engineers looked back in time to a technology that's actually been around since the early 1900s magnetic levitation also known as maglev in fact concepts from maglev trains date back to the 60s and the world's first and so far only commercial maglev line has been in operation since 2004 running between shanghai's city centre and its airport the central japan railway company or jr central has modernized this technology using superconducting magnets electromagnets are cooled to minus 269 degrees allowing the trains to levitate higher above the tracks but the trains need to be moving at speed before the magnets come in once the train reaches 150 kilometers an hour by itself maglev kicks in and the carriage is lifted off its rubber wheels the train then interacts with a set of coils in the track one used to levitate its mass and the other to propel it forward now without the wheels the carriages can travel at incredible speeds the trains are also completely autonomous controlled by the track rather than a driver a measure which it's claimed makes collisions or accidents far less likely the tokyo to negoa line has been under construction since 2014 and is expected to open in 2027. a further extension linking tokyo to osaka will begin to be built straight afterwards and open as early as 2037 10 years ahead of schedule [Music] unlike the existing bullet trains whose tracks hug the japanese coastline chow shinkansen will be 90 underground cutting beneath the southern alps 256 kilometers of the 285 kilometer long line will be in tunnels the reasons for this are twofold firstly maglev trains work better when they travel in the straightest line possible and burrowing beneath the mountains avoids japan's more earthquake prone coast [Music] although in taking this approach jr central has ended up digging some of the deepest tunnels japan has ever seen that's raised a number of environmental concerns especially in the shizuoka prefecture where tunnelling threatens the basin of the oi river a major water source for the region while environmental studies have found that the risk of disturbing the basin is low local governments have criticized those reports for being in their words insufficient and hasty the incumbent governor of shizuoka even ran on a platform opposing the railway successfully winning an election in june 2021 where chow shinkansen was a key issue [Music] this controversy combined with unexpected hurdles in the construction of new stations has taken the project's cost from 13.7 billion dollars to a staggering 64 billion dollars making it one of the most expensive mega projects ever undertaken in the country the hefty price tags now leading many in japan to question whether the new line is worth it at all indeed there are quite a few drawbacks to japan's maglev once completed it'll be more expensive to run than regular high-speed trains because it consumes more energy though you could argue that it will enable greater economic growth the trains also won't be able to hold as many passengers within their smaller carriages and they won't travel as frequently traditional bullet trains run on the tokyo saka line roughly every 3 minutes because maglev track switches take more time it'll only be possible to run a maglev train once every 10 minutes japanese rail companies have also previously been able to make a lot of money by selling their technology overseas but a noticeable new player has emerged on the scene since the advent of the first bullet train back in 1964. china it's now the king of high-speed rail and the country is home to two-thirds of the world's entire high-speed network while none of its intercity lines are maglev china is beginning to develop its own version of the technology in july 2021 it tested a maglev train that reached 600 kilometers an hour almost breaking the record set by japan that train could theoretically go from beijing to shanghai in three and a half hours faster than the four and a half hours it takes by plane china doesn't need to buy japan's technology and the rest of the world is still playing catch up with regular high-speed rail so why is japan so intent on building this maglev line and why did the government grant jr central alone to finish it 10 years ahead of schedule if chaos and canton is successful then it has the potential to create a commutable distance between the country's two largest cities linking the regions of tokyo and osaka in a pretty profound way it's surprised it's becoming increasingly alluring around the world megacities are systematically being made of china's pearl river delta through strategically placed infrastructure while less formally the boundaries between cities in the northeastern united states from washington dc up to boston are being blurred it's the same in western europe merging major cities like this has the potential to create economic powerhouses on a scale we've never seen before when the bullet train first began construction more than half a century ago the world ridiculed it but it ultimately allowed japan to grow connecting regions and sharing prosperity in the decade that followed its opening japan went from an economy that was just 10 the size of the us to the world's second largest of course we'll need to wait and see if this new line can levitate the country to further success but moving people between major cities in record-breaking time would open up a whole new world [Music] if you enjoyed this video and you want to get more from the definitive video channel for construction subscribe to the b1m [Music] you

Channel: The B1M

Views: 8,118,340

Keywords: B1M, TheB1M, Construction, architecture, engineering, The B1M, Fred Mills, building, maglev, bullet train, Chūō Shinkansen, magnetic levitation, Tōkaidō Shinkansen, tokyo, osaka, Shinkansen, JR Central, Central Japan Railway Company, Electromagnets, Nagoya, Ōi River, Shizuoka Prefecture, china, Pearl River Delta, megalopolis, megacity, high speed rail, hyperloop, virgin hyperloop, infrastructure, tokyo 2020

Id: q_dzK9ykGyc

Length: 9min 11sec (551 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 18 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/MisterSmoothOperator]

I'm just a train enthusiast so sorry if ignorant question:

Why is it so much easier to get this infrastructure built in Japan than say TX Central or CA HSR?

Are eminent domain-esque laws different in Japan?

Is it perhaps the taste for rail is different in Japan due to existing success so funding is easier?

[u/its_real_I_swear]

Wouldn’t really call it a gamble. The technology has been developed for 50 years and the business case is not a mystery.

[u/OhGoodOhMan]

One thing that doesn't really get discussed about the SCMaglev is capacity. Consider the L0 series being developed for the Chuo Shinkansen versus the N700S, running on the Tokaido Shinkansen. Both are planned to run in 16-car consists about 1,300 feet long. An L0 series train will hold up to 888 passengers, but the actual number will likely be lower once overhead like bathrooms and vestibules are included. The N700S holds 1,323 passengers, mostly due to its extra width allowing a 5th row of seats.

But what really holds the Chuo Shinkansen back is frequency. According to the video, trains will be able to run every 10 minutes. The Northeast Maglev's environmental study says every 7.5 minutes. Taking the more optimistic number, 8 trains per hour isn't exactly great.

Using the Tokaido Shinkansen again as a comparison, it can apparently run 17 trains per hour (all service patterns, not just Nozomi).

So we get a total capacity of a little under 7,100 people per hour per direction for the SCMaglev, and 22,500 for conventional HSR. Granted, the maglev has a higher top speed and better acceleration and braking, but it has just 1/3 of the capacity. Would it have been better to build the Chuo Shinkansen with steel rails? Maybe.