JAPAN | Maglev

[dumbfword]

Isn't the underground spaced saved for a future link to the Jōetsu shinkansen?

[quashlo]

Originally Posted by chornedsnorkack

Is Tohoku adequately served by wheeled Shinkansen (3:05 Tokyo to Aomori when sped to 320 km/h, how much to Sapporo? Wakkanai and beyond?) or are there any current plans for Tohoku maglev (and Sanyo maglev, for the matter)?

They are aiming for Hokkaidō Shinkansen (and the Tōhoku Shinkansen) to eventually be 360 km/h, as this would put Sapporo – Tōkyō under the 4-hour mark and make it somewhat competitive with air. At 320 km/h, it’s supposed to be around five hours or so. As for Wakkanai, don’t worry about it… There’s really no reason to extend beyond Sapporo unless they decide to do a mini-Shinkansen deal or use the FGT.

I’m sure they’ve probably thought about maglev on the other Shinkansen lines, but none of them really need it like Tōkaidō Shinkansen. Tōkaidō is critical to Japan’s economy and its three largest metropolitan areas, but it is also the oldest high-speed line in the world and in need of major upgrades due to age. The maglev isn’t just a faster line on the Tōkyō – Nagoya – Ōsaka route—it will allow JR Central to do the major rehab on the Tōkaidō Shinkansen without disrupting travel in the corridor and create a critical redundancy in the network. Personally, I think maglev on the other Shinkansen lines is too far off into the future to be concerned about right now.

[quashlo]

Originally Posted by dumbfword

Isn't the underground spaced saved for a future link to the Jōetsu shinkansen?

I think the Jōetsu Shinkansen was originally envisioned to go on the east side of the station, beneath Takashimaya Times Square—i.e., south of the New South Exit. There is supposed to be space underneath the main building of Takashimaya Times Square reserved for the future station. However, for some reason there appears to be a lot of stuff on the Web now about putting it on the west side of the station, citing how the Keiō New Line / Toei Shinjuku Line is on B5F and the Toei Ōedo Line is on B7F to “reserve” space for the station. However, I always thought these deep stations were built to avoid the Keiō Line (B3F), the Marunouchi Line (B2F), and all the other underground stuff at the West Exit of the station.

JR East hasn’t been talking about the Shinjuku extension much, but with the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen and the Hokkaidō Shinkansen, it may be time for them to start dusting off their old plans as they will be running out of capacity at Tōkyō terminal and may need to start thinking about diverting Shinkansen train traffic south of Ōmiya. Tōkaidō Shinkansen gets frequently mentioned in terms of high-frequency HSR, but JR East also does 12 tph peak on the Ōmiya – Tōkyō section.

[chornedsnorkack]

Originally Posted by quashlo

Tōkaidō is critical to Japan’s economy and its three largest metropolitan areas, but it is also the oldest high-speed line in the world and in need of major upgrades due to age. The maglev isn’t just a faster line on the Tōkyō – Nagoya – Ōsaka route—it will allow JR Central to do the major rehab on the Tōkaidō Shinkansen without disrupting travel in the corridor and create a critical redundancy in the network.

Is Hokuriku Shinkansen extension Tsuruga-Osaka also critical redundancy as parallel to Tokaido Shinkansen?

[Momo1435]

I doubt that, it's much more a connection between Toyama, Kanazawa and Osaka then a new connection between Tokyo and Osaka. The travel times via Nagano will be significantly longer then the Tokaido. And the current traffic between Kanazawa and Osaka is not really a big burden on the Tokaido Shinkansen.

As for Tokyo, I think we will see some big changes in the traditional Shinkansen lines in Tokyo whit the new Chuo-Line. If the maglev isn't extended to Shinjuku a new Tohoku line Shinjuku extension that even extends further to Shinigawa might not be an internet fantasy.

[dumbfword]

Originally Posted by quashlo

I think the Jōetsu Shinkansen was originally envisioned to go on the east side of the station, beneath Takashimaya Times Square—i.e., south of the New South Exit. There is supposed to be space underneath the main building of Takashimaya Times Square reserved for the future station. However, for some reason there appears to be a lot of stuff on the Web now about putting it on the west side of the station, citing how the Keiō New Line / Toei Shinjuku Line is on B5F and the Toei Ōedo Line is on B7F to “reserve” space for the station. However, I always thought these deep stations were built to avoid the Keiō Line (B3F), the Marunouchi Line (B2F), and all the other underground stuff at the West Exit of the station.

JR East hasn’t been talking about the Shinjuku extension much, but with the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen and the Hokkaidō Shinkansen, it may be time for them to start dusting off their old plans as they will be running out of capacity at Tōkyō terminal and may need to start thinking about diverting Shinkansen train traffic south of Ōmiya. Tōkaidō Shinkansen gets frequently mentioned in terms of high-frequency HSR, but JR East also does 12 tph peak on the Ōmiya – Tōkyō section.

Cool. Thank you.

[chornedsnorkack]

What is the frequency of Chuo Shinkansen, and where does it cross break of mains frequency?

Tokaido Shinkansen crosses break of mains frequency around Fuji, but continues on 60 Hz to break of frequency in Tokyo Station.

[SamuraiBlue]

Originally Posted by chornedsnorkack

What is the frequency of Chuo Shinkansen, and where does it cross break of mains frequency?

Tokaido Shinkansen crosses break of mains frequency around Fuji, but continues on 60 Hz to break of frequency in Tokyo Station.

The electric frequency and speed of the vehicle has a very close relationship because the faster the switching of polarity results to faster speed.
I believe the present frequency for the Yanamashi test site is regulated by a frequency inverter from 0~56Hz on the north track speeding up to 550Km/h and 0~46Hz on the south track speeding up to 450Km/h.

[chornedsnorkack]

Originally Posted by SamuraiBlue

The electric frequency and speed of the vehicle has a very close relationship because the faster the switching of polarity results to faster speed.
I believe the present frequency for the Yanamashi test site is regulated by a frequency inverter from 0~56Hz on the north track speeding up to 550Km/h and 0~46Hz on the south track speeding up to 450Km/h.

So since the tracks are separated from supply frequency with inverters anyway, mains frequency does not affect maglev.

[SamuraiBlue]

Originally Posted by chornedsnorkack

So since the tracks are separated from supply frequency with inverters anyway, mains frequency does not affect maglev.

Not much, the inverters would probably be needed to be calibrated to the frequency for the feed though.

[chornedsnorkack]

So, what do the high-speed lines through Tokyo look like?

Existing - Tohoku Shinkansen (wheeled, 50 Hz) Omiya-Ueno-Tokyo, and Tokaido Shinkansen (wheeled, 60 Hz) Shinagawa-Tokyo.

Which lines are being built Omiya-Shinjuku, and which are being built Shinagawa-Shinjuku?

[Momo1435]

There are no new Shinkansen lines under construction in Tokyo and there are also no actual known proposals to built any new line right now.

The Shinjuku route was one of the proposals for the Joetsu Shinkansen, but in the end it was decided that it would just use the Tohoku into Tokyo Station. But the route remains an option if more capacity is needed on the Omiya - Tokyo section of the Tohoku.

The Shinagawa-Shinjuku line is a possible extension for the Chuo Shinkansen, and building the line as a extension of the Shinjuku route is just my idea.

[Railfan]

One question, you have pictures or information about the magnetic damping system function.

I'm intrigued by the look that had the wagon MLX01-4 with the magnetic damping system installed

[quashlo]

JR Central announces proposed maglev station sites
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/business/T110608006045.htm

Central Japan Railway Co. (JR Tokai) has announced candidate sites for stations along the planned linear motor Shinkansen line between Tokyo and Nagoya, but negotiations with local governments over station construction costs could possibly derail the plans.

JR Tokai aims to start constructing the Tokyo-Nagoya route in fiscal 2014 as the initial stage of the planned maglev Chuo Shinkansen line that eventually will connect Tokyo and Osaka.

Ongoing environmental impact assessments also will be a factor in deciding the exact locations of the stations.

The candidate station sites between Tokyo and Nagoya are Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture; a southern area of the Kofu basin in Yamanashi Prefecture (Kofu, Chuo or Showacho); and western Nakatsugawa, Gifu Prefecture.

A candidate site in Nagano Prefecture has not been decided, but will be announced after gathering opinions from municipalities in the prefecture, JR Tokai said.

The candidate sites, which were announced Tuesday, are about five kilometers in diameter. JR Tokai will narrow down these areas to decide on the final locations.

The straight-line route passes through the Southern Japanese Alps. The line will be deep underground in most areas between Shinagawa and Sagamihara and most places in Aichi Prefecture because it was difficult to acquire land for the track due to residential developments.

JR Tokai plans to build the stations aboveground, except for in Sagamihara.

Areas for the stations were decided based on geographical and geological conditions, requests from local governments, expected environmental impact and ease of access for transferring to JR's regular lines, according to JR Tokai.

"We decided on the sites after spending a decade investigating the geographical and geological conditions," JR Tokai President Yoshiomi Yamada said at a press conference. He called on the Yamanashi prefectural government and other localities to support the rail operator's plan. Four groups had been seeking to have a station built in other areas of the prefecture.

JR Tokai reportedly initially assumed the maglev line would have stations only in Shinagawa, Nagoya and Shin-Osaka. However, the company decided to build more stations after being approached by local governments hoping to grab some of the economic effects the new line is expected to bring.

Although JR Tokai accepted these requests, it plans to ask the local governments concerned to pay the entire cost of building the stations, as happened for stations on the Tokaido Shinkansen line built after petitions from localities.

After JR Tokai was established in 1987 when Japanese National Railways was privatized and separated into regional units, three stations, including Kakegawa, Shizuoka Prefecture, were constructed based on such petitions.

Construction costs of an aboveground station on the maglev line is estimated at about 35 billion yen, and an underground station about 220 billion yen.

Each prefecture along the line has asked JR Tokai to shoulder some of the financial burden of building the stations. However, JR Tokai is reluctant to cough up extra money while it is trying to find the cash to extend the line from Nagoya to Osaka.

In line with recommendations by a subcommittee on the Chuo Shinkansen project at the Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry's Council for Transport Policy, the final decision on the cost burden likely will be decided by the central government.

Not mentioned in this article is that the train yards will be constructed in Sagamihara City and Nakatsugawa City. The Nakatsugawa City yard will require about 60-70 ha in total area, as it seems that JR Central is planning for this to be a storage and maintenance yard. The Sagamihara City yard appears to be primarily a storage yard, so might require less space.

ANN news report (2011.06.07):



This news all comes out of the project-level EIS that JR Central published on June 7, discussed more in the following posts.

[quashlo]

Project-level maglev alignment and stations revealed: Part 1

Project-level EIS is here:
http://company.jr-central.co.jp/comp...nkansen03.html

Text is excerpted straight from the EIS.

Full route
(click for larger size)
Key for the color bar at the bottom:
Blue: Deep tunnel section
Green: Mountain section
Orange: Daylight section


Route detail

Section 1
Tōkyō Prefecture terminal station to west end of Tama Hills

• A short-distance alignment is planned from the Tōkyō Prefecture terminal station towards the connection with the Yamanashi test track.
• The entire section would be in tunnels, and excepting the area around the Tōkyō Prefecture terminal station and the west end of the Tama Hills, would be in deep tunnels.
• Construction of vertical shafts to allow for deep tunneling work will avoid natural park areas, and in the Tama Hills area, the alignment is planned to cross through the area between the urbanized and developed residential areas of Tama New Town and the existing urbanized area of Machida.

Section 2
West end of Tama Hills to east end of Yamanashi test track

• Excepting the vicinity of the Sagami River and other areas, the section between the west end of the Tama Hills and the east end of the Yamanashi test track will consist primarily of tunnels.
• The alignment will cross the Sagami River aboveground, and in as short a distance as feasible.
• The alignment will cross the Fujinoki–Aikawa Tectonic Line in as short a distance as feasible.
• West of the Sagami River, the alignment would pass between Lake Tsukui and Lake Miyagase and connect with the east end of the Yamanashi test track. A train yard is planned within Sagamihara City, branching off from this section.
• The Yamanashi test track will be reused for the maglev.

Section 3
West end of Yamanashi test track to west end of Kōfu Basin

• The Yamanashi test track will be reused for the maglev.
• West of the west end of the Yamanashi test track, the area is scattered with kofun (burial mounds), and the left bank of the Fuefuki River contains the Sone Hills fault zone. As a result, the alignment will avoid these areas, passing within the basin between the Fuefuki River and Kamanashi River.
• The alignment will cross the Fuefuki River and Kamanashi River aboveground, in as short a distance as feasible.
• As the Kōfu Basin’s geology is pebbly and rich in groundwater, with a high-water table and areas under pressure, tunneling would be difficult, and the alignment will instead travel aboveground.
• The alignment will avoid urbanized and developed areas in the northern and central parts of the Kōfu Basin, passing instead through the southern part of the Kōfu Basin.

Section 4
West end of Kōfu Basin to the Koma Mountains to the Hayakawa River

• West of the Kamanashi River, due to geographical conditions the alignment will primarily consist of tunnels.
• The alignment will avoid a portion of the north-central section of the Koma Mountains—where geology is unstable and the overburden large, and there is potential for high-pressure springs—passing through the southern parts of Mt. Kushigata and Mt. Genji.
• The alignment will cross the Hayakawa River aboveground, in as short a distance as feasible.

Section 5
Hayakawa River to the Southern Alps to the west end of the Ina Mountains

• The Southern Alps will be crossed almost entirely in tunnels.
• The alignment will cross the Itoigawa–Shizuoka Tectonic Line in as short a distance as feasible.
• The alignment will pass between Mt. Arakawa and Mt. Shiomi, where the overburden can be most minimized among the 3,000 m tall mountain ridges located on the border between Shizuoka Prefecture and Nagano Prefecture.

Section 6
West end of Ina Mountains to the west end of the southern tip of the Central Alps



Section 7
West end of the southern tip of the Central Alps to the east end of the Nōbi Plain

• In the vicinity of the border between Nagano Prefecture and Gifu Prefecture, the alignment will pass to the north of Mt. Ena in order to avoid impacts due to unstable geology in areas around the shear zone of the Seinaiji Pass fault zone and Adera fault zone at the southern tip of the Central Alps, as well as to avoid impacts due to the Mt. Byōbu fault zone running parallel east-west.
• The alignment will cross the Adera fault zone in as short a distance as feasible.
• In order to avoid running parallel in close proximity to the east-west Mt. Byōbu fault zone, the alignment will pass on the left bank of the Toki River.
• The alignment will cross the Kiso River and Agi River aboveground, in as short a distance as feasible.
• As much as possible, the alignment will avoid the Hida–Kisogawa Quasi-National Park and the Gifu Prefectural Ena Gorge Natural Park designated along the Kiso River.
• Between the Toki River and Kiso River lies the Mino Plateau, which forms a relatively high-elevation hilly terrain. The alignment on this section will consist primarily of tunnels.
• As much as possible, the alignment will avoid uranium ore deposits and mines (fire clay, silica).
• The alignment will avoid the urbanized and developed residential areas of north-central Tajimi City.
• A train yard (including workshops) is planned within Nakatsugawa City, branching off the mainline from this section.

Section 8
East area of Nōbi Plain

• The entire section would be in tunnels, and excepting the area around the Nagoya City terminal, would be in deep tunnels.
• The alignment would avoid Lake Iruka, connecting to the Nagoya City terminal station in an east-west direction.
• In regards to construction of vertical shafts to allow for deep tunneling work, the alignment is planned to avoid natural park areas, nature preserve areas, and wildlife preserve special districts, as well as the urbanized and developed areas of Kōzōji New Town in the eastern parts of the Nōbi Plain.

[quashlo]

Project-level maglev alignment and stations revealed: Part 2

Station locations

Kanagawa Prefecture
Location: Sagamihara City
Engineering feasibility: Underground station is feasible in Sagamihara City’s Midori Ward or Chūō Ward, where the line would intersect existing railways.
Convenience:
(Rail) In close proximity to existing stations on the JR Yokohama Line, JR Sagami Line, and Keiō Sagamihara Line.
(Road) Easy access to the Ken’ō Expressway (Sagami Through Road) expected to open in the future.
Environmental impact: As the station would be underground, there would be no impacts to sunlight, aesthetics, etc.
Land acquisition: In addition to urbanization and developed residential areas surrounding existing railways, there are large-scale retail facilities and a U.S. Army depot. Securing land for station plazas and other facilities may be difficult.



Yamanashi Prefecture
Location: Southern part of Kōfu Basin (Kyōchū area)
Engineering feasibility: Station and a continuous aerial structure approaching the station, approx. 20 m tall, are feasible on the flat terrain of the southern part of the Kōfu Basin between the Fuefuki River and Kamanashi River.
Convenience:
(Rail) In close proximity to existing stations on the JR Minobu Line.
(Road) In close proximity to existing ramps on the Shin-Yamanashi Loop Road.
Environmental impact: Minimization of environmental impacts is necessary, such as limiting the height of the aerial structure as much as possible.
Land acquisition: The area consists primarily of agricultural land, but as a portion of the areas are already urbanized, integration with station area improvements and securing land for station plazas and other facilities may be difficult.



Gifu Prefecture
Location: Western Nakatsugawa City
Engineering feasibility: Aboveground station (approx. 20 m in elevation) is possible parallel to the JR Chūō Line in western Nakatsugawa City.
Convenience:
(Rail) In close proximity to existing stations on the JR Chūō Line.
(Road) Easy access to the Chūō Expressway.
Environmental impact: Minimization of environmental impacts is necessary, such as limiting the height of the aerial structure as much as possible.
Land acquisition: The area consists primarily of agricultural land.



Also mentioned explicitly in the EIS:
Shinagawa Station would be a “north-south” alignment, while Nagoya Station would be an “east-west” alignment to allow for easy connections with the Tōkaidō Shinkansen and conventional lines and make the second phase (extension to Ōsaka) easier.

[SamuraiBlue]

If you think of it the Chuo Shinkansen is just a super fast subway that connects Tokyo and Nagoya into one big metropolis since 44minutes is about the same time duration as getting on the Hibiya line in Nakameguro and getting off at Kita Senjyu.

[quashlo]

That's definitely one of the intentions of the line... It has the potential to drastically change perceptions of distance in Japan, just like the original Tōkaidō Shinkansen.

Plus, the "intercity subway" analogy works especially well if you consider that most of the line is in tunnels... Sagamihara to Tōkyō alone is a good 40 km. This is probably the largest contributing factor to the cost, not the choice of maglev technology itself (over conventional HSR, for example).

[Tyr]

Can anyone explain for me- how would maglev lines connect?
Say they wanted to add a spur to Nagano or wherever in the future (unlikely but in theory), how would the track connect to the existing track?
Surely they have to do this anyway with what they've got, if they're to have mutiple trains running on it and wanting to turn them around and all.
Looking at the way the maglev works with the train wrapped around the track...just seems really hard to imagine how they'll connect, all I can think of is the track drops down onto the existing track on a very shallow slope?

Also what would scheduling be like on this? They speak of Tokyo-Nagoya-Osaka super fast but then there's also talk of stops in the smaller cities in between...surely that would greatly reduce speeds? With a normal rail there's be expresses and ones that stop but....how will that work here?

I'm going to be living in Yamanashi in a month's time so really looking forward to seeing this!
Just a shame I'll be a old man before the countrywide metro appears (so much underground!! Its just mad!)

[Momo1435]

Just like normal rail the Maglev also has switches, they are just oversized since the whole track has to be moved from 1 track to another.

You can see it on this picture:


http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/manabumit

At a switch the track is flexible so it can be moved from 1 track to another. It will likely take a bit longer to change the switch then with regular rail, but it can still be used at smaller stations to create bypasses. And since the maglev accelerates much faster then a normal train stopping doesn't reduce the capacity as much as with a normal Shinkansen.

So expect the same kind of service as on the Tokaido Shinkansen, just with 2 types of services instead of 3.