Japan may waive maglev train technology license fees in deal with U.S.

[bananas]

Source: Kyodo

The government is considering providing Japanese magnetically levitated train system technology to the United States without license fees, a government source said Sunday.

Tokyo is considering the possibility in order to realize a maglev high-speed train service linking Washington and Baltimore, Maryland, the source said.

Japan has also unofficially offered loans worth about ¥500 billion to help bring about the service, which is expected to require about ¥1 trillion in investments.

The government is making arrangements so that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe can offer the technological assistance when he meets with U.S. President Barack Obama in Tokyo on April 24, according to the source.

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Read more: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2014/04/13/national/japan-may-waive-maglev-train-technology-license-fees-in-deal-with-u-s/

[bananas]

1. Project description from wikipedia

"The objective of the program is to demonstrate high speed maglev technology in commercial service through a project of about 40 miles in length, so that it can be considered later in the century for implementation in a longer distance intercity corridor application."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baltimore_%E2%80%93_Washington_D.C._Maglev

The Baltimore – Washington D.C. Maglev project is a proposal from the United States cities of Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, D.C. to build a 39.8 miles (64.1 km) maglev train system between their respective central business districts.

Proposed construction and progress of project

Section 1218 of the "Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century" created a National Magnetic Levitation Transportation Technology Deployment Program. The program is administered by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), a unit of the U.S. Department of Transportation. The objective of the program is to demonstrate high speed maglev technology in commercial service through a project of about 40 miles in length, so that it can be considered later in the century for implementation in a longer distance intercity corridor application. ...

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[Major Nikon]

5. I've ridden the Maglev in China

It's about the same distance. Since the proof of concept is already there, I'm not sure why another would need to be built for the same purpose. The technology doesn't seem to be quite ready for prime time because it's insanely expensive. It is fast as hell. When the two Maglev trains pass each other you hear screams from passengers who are freaked out by it.

[dembotoz]

2. it is nice when a tech advanced nation offers tech assistance to a backward people

[yuiyoshida]

3. I can just imagine the complaints

of right wingers about Japan loaning us money for such a project. ...omg.

[TRoN33]

4. Thanks, Japan but...

Americans didn't conceive, design, build, and operate maglev train yet? I'm ashamed to say that I'm embarrassing for my country. Thanks Republicans and their 1% masters for being fucking greedy.

[amandabeech]

6. This is being offered as a gift in honor of the Japan-U.S. alliance.

Goodness knows how crazy the traffic is on I-95 between DC and Baltimore despite Amtrak and two or three commuter train lines, so this is an appropriate gift.

However, I expect that our gift to the Japan-U.S. alliance is expected to be missiles launched at Chinese ships and aircraft if they attempt to take the Senkaku Islands. Just sayin'.

[Chan790]

7. This sh*t again?

Japan has repeatedly offered this over-and-over over the last 3 years and been rebuffed.

Neither the US government, the District of Columbia or the state of Maryland has any interest in building a Mag-Lev line to connect two cities 38 minutes apart by car and which is redundant in the second most accessible public-transit corridor in the US. Mind you, they've rejected discussions to build it anywhere we might actually want one such as between Baltimore and Philly...which is the under-served East Coast rail-transit bottleneck and why the East Coast doesn't have point-to-point rail-based mass transit.

The gift they could give us is to stop trying to foist a MagLev they expect us to pay for in the form of loans off as a gift.

[mackerel]

8. It would be so cool to have something like this in the San Francisco Bay Area.

[LibertyLover]

9. As much as I would like to see mag-lev trains here in the US

the current railroad infrastructure on the east coast is unsuited for the use by maglev trains and would, at a minimum, have to be totally rebuilt. Not to mention that some of the sharper curves would have to be reworked, which means land acquisition issues, and that while the roadbeds and tracks are rebuilt, AMTRAK couldn't operate their trains. But building an entirely new roadbed and track system for the maglev trains would also be difficult as obtaining the right of way and building the roadbed and tracks required here on the east coast would be prohibitively expensive. I don't see how maglev could be brought to the east coast. Perhaps it would be easier in the midwest or the west coast.