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China and Japan race to dominate future of high-speed rail

  • Asia’s two biggest economies are vying to develop the world’s first long-distance maglev railway before the year 2040
  • Whoever wins could get a huge leg-up on exporting the lucrative next-generation technology, say experts

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A high-speed maglev train prototype is seen in Qingdao, East China’s Shandong province, in May last year. Photo: Visual China Group via Getty Images
Bloomberg
Japan and China are racing to build a new type of ultra-fast, levitating train, seeking to demonstrate their mastery over a technology with big export potential.
Magnetic levitation, or maglev, trains use powerful magnets to glide along charged tracks at super fast speeds made possible by the lack of friction. A handful of short distance and experimental maglev trains are already in operation, but Asia’s two biggest economies are vying to develop what would be the world’s first long-distance intercity lines.

On one side is a 9 trillion yen (US$86 billion) maglev from Central Japan Railway Company’s (JR Central) that is expected to connect Tokyo and Osaka by 2037. On the other is China’s 100 billion yuan (US$15 billion) on-again, off-again project that will run between Shanghai and the eastern port city of Ningbo. After several false starts, it is now forecast to be completed by around 2035. Japan’s project is more expensive largely because of the amount of excavation that will be required to tunnel through the mountainous countryside.

If Japan and China are able to unveil their long-distance projects successfully by their due dates, it should give them a leg up when they look to export the next-generation technology, rail experts say. At stake is a share of the estimated more than US$2 trillion global market for rail infrastructure projects.
Construction workers pictured on an underground section of Japan’s Chuo Shinkansen maglev line in 2017. Photo: Kyodo
Construction workers pictured on an underground section of Japan’s Chuo Shinkansen maglev line in 2017. Photo: Kyodo

“Maglev technology has huge export potential, and China and Japan’s domestic projects are like shop windows into how the technology could be successfully implemented abroad,” said Christopher Hood, a professor at Cardiff University who has studied and written a book about Japan’s shinkansen.

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