Japan and China are racing to build a new super-fast suspension train in an attempt to demonstrate their mastery of a technology with huge export potential, US media say.


The maglev train USES powerful magnets to glide along electrified tracks, allowing it to reach superfast speeds without friction, bloomberg news reported Nov. 24. Several short-haul experimental maglev trains are already in operation, but Asia's two largest economies are racing to build the world's first long-distance intercity maglev line.

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On one side is Tokai Railway Corp. 's 9 trillion yen maglev line, which is expected to link Tokyo and Osaka by 2037, the report said. On the other side is China's rmb100bn maglev railway project, which will link Shanghai to the eastern port city of Ningbo. The project is expected to be completed around 2035. The Japanese project is more expensive, mainly because of the amount of digging needed to build a tunnel through the rural mountains.


If Japan and China succeed in opening their long-haul maglev project by the scheduled date, railway experts say, it will put them in a strong position to seek to export the next-generation technology. At stake is their share of the more than $2 trillion global market for rail infrastructure projects.


"Maglev technology has huge export potential and domestic projects in China and Japan are showcases of how it can be used successfully overseas," said Christopher Hood, a professor at Cardiff University who has studied and written about Japan's Shinkansen.


Japan, the creator of the Shinkansen, the world's first bullet train line, has long been the world's leading supplier of high-speed rail projects, the report said. But over the past decade, Chinese competitors, often willing to offer parts and technology at lower prices, have caught up. In 2015, Japanese suppliers lost out to Chinese rivals in the bidding for the country's first high-speed rail project, which would link the capital Jakarta to Bandung in west Java province.


A report in Chinese media in July quoted a railway expert as saying That Japan was a "strong rival" in developing conventional bullet trains and high-speed maglev trains. This "grim reality" has prompted China to make rapid breakthroughs in developing maglev trains "to ensure that China will have a sufficient share of both domestic and international markets in the future," the report said.


"There is a view that Japan is falling further and further behind China in the technology world, so if it can be the first to implement this new technology, it will be a great source of national pride," Hood said.

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