Link: AFP: US transport chief test-rides Japan magnetic train
US transport chief test-rides Japan magnetic train
By Harumi Ozawa (AFP) – 6 hours ago
TSURU, Japan — The US transport chief took a test ride Tuesday on Japan's super-fast magnetic train, a contender for President Barack Obama's multi-billion-dollar national high speed railway project.
Japan is up against China, France, Germany and other bidders as it seeks to sell its "Shinkansen" bullet and magnetic train systems for the American rail plan, which is backed by 13 billion dollars in public funding.
US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said he looked forward to "the thrill of a lifetime" as he boarded the train for a 500 kilometre (310 mile) per hour ride at the Yamanashi Maglev Test Line near Mount Fuji.
"It's very fast," he said when he and his wife emerged from the train after the white-knuckle ride along the 18-kilometre test track operated by Central Japan Railway in Tsuru, west of Tokyo.
The train hovers 10 centimetres (four inches) above the tracks and reached a world record speed of 581 kilometres per hour in 2003, says the operator, which is proposing it for a link between Washington and Baltimore.
In Japan, the company hopes to launch the magnetic levitation, or maglev, train service -- billed as faster, smoother and quieter than conventional trains -- between Tokyo and the central city of Nagoya by 2027.
By 2045 it is expected to link Tokyo with the main western city of Osaka in just 67 minutes, compared with the Shinkansen's current 145 minutes.
Obama's rail strategy -- which aims to improve infrastructure, help the environment and create jobs -- envisions 10 high-speed rail corridors across the United States -- including in California, the Pacific Northwest, the southern United States, the Gulf of Mexico Coast, and Florida.
Eight billion dollars have been provided for high-speed rail links under a government stimulus plan, plus one billion dollars a year for five years in the federal budget as a "down payment" on the new services.
Bidding for some of the lines is expected to start later this year.
"It's quite exciting," said LaHood. "We have invited all of the train manufacturers from around the world to come to America.
"The only thing we asked of the manufacturers, whether it's maglev or whether they are other forms of rail infrastructure, is: come to America, find facilities to build this equipment in America, and hire American workers.
"The money that President Obama allocated to the department of transportation, eight billion dollars, is to put people to work."
The visit comes a day after LaHood met auto giant Toyota over its safety crisis and left open the possibility of imposing more fines on the company for being slow to disclose problems with accelerator systems in the US.
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