Chinese For Boondoggle?

In an opinion piece in today's Star Tribune, transportation consultant Kevin Coates asks us to Think what maglev could do for transit:

During rush hour in Shanghai, China, recently, I traveled 19 miles in 7 1/2 minutes. I wasn't flying, exactly. I was aboard a high-speed magnetic-levitation transportation system. Ever since, I can't help but ponder more efficient ways of moving people into, between, within and around American cities; especially when I am stuck in traffic jams.

The high-speed (267 mph) German-built maglev in Shanghai is one good model. It is smooth and much faster than highway or traditional rail travel, fast enough in fact to compete with air trips of 600 miles or less (which means it could eliminate the need for about 50 percent of all domestic U.S. air travel).

My ride in Shanghai is proof: The technology exists to meet our burgeoning transportation needs. What we need now is the public will and the political leadership to make the move.

Sounds great doesn't it? Problem is that the reality of the maglev line in Shanghai doesn't exactly deliver on the promise.

When I was there a few weeks ago, we drove by the station at the end of the line. The line runs from the airport to this station, about nineteen miles as Coates noted. In fact one of our co-workers lives in an apartment within walking distance of the station. And, according to him, the line is little used by Shanghai residents. He described it as "very expensive tourist attraction," which of course led us to relate tales of our own train to nowhere in the Twin Cities.

In fact we planned to use the Shanghai maglev line on the Saturday that we left to see what it was like. But the first train wasn't running until 9:00am and our flight departed at 9:30am. According to one of our co-workers, the hours of operation of the line are nine to five every day. Which is great if you're a retiree, a homemaker, a jobless left wing protester, or a tourist. But it doesn't seem like it would do much to help with the rush hour.