ABSTRACT
This chapter proposes that regional and pan-continental arguments concerning China’s infrastructure development should consider broad economic and ecological arguments so that it can sustain its growth pattern and do this with respect to both its near and more distant partners. As European and US manufacturers and consumers, and now Chinese consumers, become more closely interdependent, it is time to look to the balance of air, land and sea transport costs, especially those relating to freight, bearing in mind their propensity to pollute. We note that using a (traditional) railway train the endto-end delivery time of containers from China to Europe is about 20 days, while our proposed Maglev ultra high-speed system could reduce this to three days. In comparison, air freight is limited to about 100 tonnes per plane (fast, but expensive per tonne/km), and Malaccamax boats carrying over 10,000 containers take 35+ days travelling from Asia to Europe, or 45+ days if the ships have to round the Cape of Africa if they are too large for the Suez canal. Overall, we expect the long distance Maglev freight system will offer low cost per kilometre; plus it can deliver huge volumes per day, and is very fast. The Maglev system will offer a new mode for freight forwarders to consider, which will maintain global GDP growth, as well as offer new opportunities along its route that current modes cannot.
