2012 New Year wish list for Prototypes

[Eisenbahn]

 My new year wish!!!

Wouldnt it be great to have a  new Tokyo-Nagoya-Kyoto straight line route (under400km) running a new 480km/hr Shinkansen fleet for a 55 minute point to point run!!
There would be the small matter of Capital cost, political will of those in the Diet etc etc.  When recessions loom, bold infrastructure expenditure is the go...especially on rail projects. Someone in the international community will buy the bonds to fund it!!

A more modest project might be a combined 5 day JR & non JR rail & bus pass for the Kansai region. It would make getting around Osaka/Kyoto a lot easier.

Happy New Year.......Eisenbahn

[bikkuri bahn]

Wouldnt it be great to have a  new Tokyo-Nagoya-Kyoto straight line route (under400km) running a new 480km/hr Shinkansen fleet for a 55 minute point to point run!!

There is already something that is under construction that will more or less do that, the Chuo Shinkansen (maglev).

[westfalen]

My new year wish!!!

Wouldnt it be great to have a  new Tokyo-Nagoya-Kyoto straight line route (under400km) running a new 480km/hr Shinkansen fleet for a 55 minute point to point run!!
There would be the small matter of Capital cost, political will of those in the Diet etc etc.  When recessions loom, bold infrastructure expenditure is the go...especially on rail projects. Someone in the international community will buy the bonds to fund it!!

A more modest project might be a combined 5 day JR & non JR rail & bus pass for the Kansai region. It would make getting around Osaka/Kyoto a lot easier.

Happy New Year.......Eisenbahn

I'd go for that combined Kansai pass and add one for the Tokyo area as well.

[westfalen]

Wouldnt it be great to have a  new Tokyo-Nagoya-Kyoto straight line route (under400km) running a new 480km/hr Shinkansen fleet for a 55 minute point to point run!!

There is already something that is under construction that will more or less do that, the Chuo Shinkansen (maglev).

You have to accept tradeoffs with new technology though. How often has a new Shinkansen line been the death knell for the paralleling 3'6" gauge line.

[KenS]

Isn't the Chuo line already effectively a bunch of regional lines laid end-to-end? I'd thought there wasn't any long-distance service left there. What the Shinkansens kill off are the inter-city trains.  And while some of that will no doubt be lost, I expect the commuter/suburban operations at the ends would remain, plus the freight, and perhaps some regional inter-city in the middle if the maglev was more expensive or routed differently. 

Are there regional/resort trains that operate from places into the middle to the three cities that could be affected (e.g. being cut back to a local connection to the Shinkansen station the way Aizu trains were by the Tohoku Shinkansen)?

I don't have a specific wish-list for prototypes, but it's always interesting to see what shows up. Given the economic slump in Japan right now, I expect innovation is taking a back seat to survival this year.  So I'll hope for an improved economy.

[westfalen]

The Chuo maglev line would take most through traffic from the Tokaido Shinkansen doing to it what it did in its day to the Tokaido Main Line.

Another thing I'd like to see is Japan Rail Passes valid on Nozomi services.

[Eisenbahn]

I hope JR Central can raise all the capital for the maglev Chuo Shinkansen themselves as they say, and have it running by 2027. My New Year wish was for a new more direct route between Tokyo and Nagoya, much further east. Investing in improving existing Shinkansen technology  to run at 480km/hr would have flow on benefits for the entire Shinkansen network. In service, these 480km/hr trains could also continue on over the rest of the network , albeit at lower speeds. Should be possible to acquire a new 300km Tokyo-Nagoya corridor and lay the track in 8 years if China is a guide. 2020 operation should be possible. More closely coupling Tokyo with the industrial/commercial base in the Kansai region would give an immediate productivity gain to the Japanese economy and kick  up GDP.  For international investors, surely Japanese bonds would be lower risk and more attractive that bonds from some other countries at the moment. Why not fund much of  the project on foreign debt if available?
The difficult bit would be finding and acquiring a new corridor in a timely way.
 
Anyone know a rail devotee politician in the Diet to take a leadership role???

Happy New Year.......Eisenbahn

[westfalen]

Who knows what's possible. If Japan were like Australia the government would still be debating whether or not to build the original Tokaido Shinkansen.

[marknewton]

More high-quality steam loco restorations like C6120.

Small private railways like the Gakunan to remain open.

Cheers,

Mark.

[westfalen]

More high-quality steam loco restorations like C6120.

Small private railways like the Gakunan to remain open.

Cheers,

Mark.

Yes to both of those, especially the latter. I've already missed out on seeing too much.

[Toni Babelony]

I'd like to see the Keisei plans for the extention from Chiharadai (last station on Chihara line) to Amaariki (intermediate station on the Kominato railway) become reality: http://lasertrain.blogspot.com/2011/07/keisei-chihara-line.html plus a status update on the plans for the connection from Oshiage to Tokyo station and beyond. Plus, I'd like to see the 3300 and 9000 Types from Keisei and Hokuso (Chiba New Town) a bit longer around, but they'll probably be faded out pretty quick I guess.

Oh, maybe the Shibayama railway company acquiring another train set, next to their 3600 Type.