[bluGill]

Maglev has some advantages for high speed operation: less rolling resistance at speed (but worse in slow sections - while not rolling resistance, at low speed they are not as efficient), and less track maintenance. Problem is until you get to high speed those advantages are not worth it, and when you do air resistance is very expensive and so you need a lot more riders or a high ticket price.

In the end maglev isn't worth it. It is only marginally faster than regular rail, and a lot slower than flying. You can bring a few cities just outside of regular rail range into train range, but if you just let those people fly you overall have a cheaper system.

Sticking to standard rail means that you can share track with other service. While this isn't easy (you need a lot of people in the office ensuring the schedule works) the options make it well worth it. Even if you only share rail overnight when you are running less service, 24 hour service is something all cities should have on all lines.

[seanmcdirmid]

Does anyone know how the new slower maglev in Changsha is working out (between the HSR station and airport)? I’m not sure why they went with maglev there, hopefully it just wasn’t just a prestige project and there was a real benefit to it.

The maglev Japan is building between Tokyo and Nagoya (and eventually Osaka) should be productive, but that is more of a traditional high speed one and will have enough traffic to support it.