Japan Wants To Gift $5B To The U.S. To Build Its First Maglev Train

Our subways and trains have been waiting for their retirement long time ago.

It’s sad but true that while Japan, Europe, China and others have high-speed rail, the U.S. can’t get far enough past political barriers to even get construction started on this generation of train travel. However, everything may have changed because Japan recently announced that the country is willing to put up 50% of the loans needed to build a 37-mile maglev train between Baltimore and Washington, D.C.

“Even though the journey covers less than 40 miles, the current rail network takes more than an hour to make the trip between the two cities. In most cases, it’s quicker to drive, though finding a parking spot is a headache–and nevermind the famous Beltway traffic,” said a Resident.

The maglev that is proposed by Japan successfully completed its test run last October, reaching a top speed of 311 MPH. Japan’s state-owned overseas investment bank, the JBIC, is committing funding, while Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made the gesture to President Obama that his country will gift the technology – valued $5 billion – necessary to get the first leg off the ground. JBIC is backing that agreement and will stump up another potential $5 billion in construction costs if the route becomes reality. However, although it would be great if the project were implemented, making a flagship for many more like it across the U.S., but public transportation innovation is a hard topic to get approval by the United States’ politics.

The project’s American backers, the Northeast Maglev (TNEM) based in Washington, D.C., said that they’re working closely with JR Central, which will offer technology and training to American manufacturers. “For the first phase of the project, from Washington, D.C. to Baltimore, we will be looking at a combination of public and private funding, in addition to the financial support received from JBIC”. With high population density along the route, the JBIC and TNEM insist the route could be profitable.

As plenty of proposals for improving public transportation across the country have been delayed indefinitely, who knows when–or if–this will become a reality.

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