美国磁悬浮列车项目差钱差技术

    拜磁悬浮技术所赐，列车运输终于赶上了我们对21世纪旅行充满未来感的梦想。日本即将采用磁悬浮服务加强自己最繁忙的线路——东京至大阪线，同时还打算在国外出售这种高新技术。它最新的海外目标是纽约至华盛顿走廊。如果支持磁悬浮的日本人和美国人组成的松散联盟获得成功，一种可与飞机速度相媲美的列车服务有望在本世纪上半叶出现在美国东北线路的某条支线上。

    磁悬浮列车是传统列车的替代服务，是一项极其昂贵的交通方式，需要开辟科技含量极高、能够穿透重重山脉的全新线路。有鉴于此，日本人感到有必要为美国人备上一份厚礼。国有海外投资银行日本国际协力银行(JBIC)承诺提供资金支持，首相安倍晋三也向奥巴马总统表态称，他的国家将赠送价值50亿美元的技术，以帮助美国启动这项工程。日本国际协力银行将鼎力支持这项协议——如果这条线路变为现实，它愿意提供50亿美元，为潜在的建设成本买单。但这家银行在一份声明中表示，由于这个项目还为时过早，目前还无法承诺一个确切的数字。

    “由于创建美国磁悬浮系统的计划仅处于初步阶段，目前还没有达成任何具体的成本估算，”负责该项目融资事务的日本国际协力银行高级常务董事忠志前田告诉《财富》杂志( Fortune)。但底线是，日本将承担初始阶段（即华盛顿至巴尔的摩线路）的一半费用。“然而，”他补充说，“如果这个项目要成为现实，美国方面需要做大量的工作。”

    前田证实，40英里长的华盛顿至巴尔的摩线路的磁悬浮导轨和推进系统将由东京至大阪磁悬浮线路的建造者日本中央铁路公司(JR Central)免费提供。

    相关人士希望，华盛顿至巴尔的摩支线的开发将吸引投资者为巴尔的摩和纽约之间的剩余线路提供资金。前田表示，考虑到巴尔的摩至纽约沿线的庞大人口，只有到那时，这条线路才有望盈利。

    项目的美国支持者、总部设在华盛顿特区东北磁悬浮公司(Northeast Maglev)声称，他们正在与日本中央铁路公司密切合作，后者将为美国制造商提供技术和培训支持。

    “对于这个项目的第一阶段，即华盛顿至巴尔的摩支线，除了来自日本国际协力银行的资金支持，我们还将寻求公共和私人资金，”东北磁悬浮公司首席执行官、可再生能源项目的资深投资者韦恩•L•罗杰斯这样说道。“我们预计，作为这个项目的第一阶段，华盛顿至巴尔的摩支线的成本将超过100亿美元。目前提供到纽约的全程线路成本估算还为时尚早。最终的项目成本将取决于所选择的路线。”

    由于沿线的人口密度较高，日本国际协力银行和东北磁悬浮公司坚称这条路线有盈利的潜力。但前田担心，美国经济正处于艰难时期，这类项目很难获得联邦资金支持，美国铁路公司(Amtrak)这类美国行业领袖也可能不会参与其中。他说：“这个项目需要适当的保证。”

    Thanks to magnetic levitation (maglev), train transport has finally caught up with our dreams of futuristic, 21st century travel. Japan is about to augment its busiest route, Tokyo to Osaka, with a maglev service and is now looking sell its tech know-how abroad. Its latest overseas target is the New York to Washington corridor. If a loose consortium of pro-maglev Japanese and Americans is successful, a service competing with airline speeds could be running somewhere along the northeast route within the first half of this century.

    Since maglev is an eye-watering, expensive alternative to conventional rail, requiring new, tech-heavy lines that can punch through mountains, the Japanese have felt compelled to offer a massive sweetener to Americans. Japan's state-owned overseas investment bank, the JBIC, is committing funding, while Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made the gesture to President Obama that his country will gift the technology -- valued at $5 billion -- necessary to get the first leg off the ground. JBIC is backing that agreement and will stump up another potential $5 billion in construction costs if the route becomes reality, but the project is too premature, JBIC said in a statement, to promise an exact figure.

    "As plans are just preliminary for the American maglev system, there is nothing concrete agreed as regards a cost estimate," Tadashi Maeda, senior managing director of JBIC in charge of the financing to the project told Fortune. But the bottom line is that Japan will cover 50% of the cost at the initial stage, i.e., Washington to Baltimore. "However," he added, "the project will need a major undertaking from the U.S. if it is to become a reality."

    Maeda confirmed that the maglev guideway and propulsion system would be provided free for the 40-mile Washington-Baltimore link by the creators of the Tokyo-Osaka maglev line, the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central).

    The hope is that development of the Washington-Baltimore segment would entice investors to finance the rest of the line between Baltimore and New York. Only when this is done can the route expect to be profitable, says Maeda, given the sizable population along the Baltimore to New York route.

    The project's American backers, the Northeast Maglev (TNEM) based in Washington, D.C., say that they are working closely with JR Central, which will offer technology and training to American manufacturers.

    "For the first phase of the project, from Washington, D.C. to Baltimore, we will be looking at a combination of public and private funding, in addition to the financial support received from JBIC," says TNEM CEO Wayne L. Rogers, who is an experienced investor in renewable energy projects. "We anticipate the cost of the first phase, from Washington, D.C. to Baltimore, to be north of $10 billion. It is too early in the project to provide a cost estimate for the full length of the line to New York. Final project costs will depend on the route selected."

    With high population density along the route, the JBIC and TNEM insist the route could be profitable. Maeda, however, expressed reservations over the lack of federal funds in economically straitened times for such projects and the lack of involvement of U.S. industry leaders such as Amtrak. "The project needs proper commitment," he says.