And at the same time they're thinking about connecting Beijing and Shanghai via maglev train. [1] Could be hugely successful, the current line (5hr trip) is already at capacity and there's a lot of air traffic.
Offering a 2.5hr drive between the 2 major cities should pay off financially.
Do they have the tech though (the Pudong one is built by Germans I think) ? Chuo Shinkansen in neighboring Japan is likely not be completed until 2045 (!).
The Japanese train is already running on a test track. The reason it takes so long to build is that they want to keep costs down to finance it privately. They could probably open it in '25 if they threw a lot more money into the project (which China will likely do).
I'd guess that they have the tech to build a maglev train. The German technology is mostly 20-30 years old and well known. They already have trains running, so figuring out how to build a train and track shouldn't be too hard.
Hmm, I assumed that part of the reason it would take so long is that it's mostly going to be tunnels through the mountains, and ultimately you can only bore so fast.
That's for the full route to Osaka, the section to Nagoya is scheduled to be finished by 2027 (which is still a major city, and will probably cut overall travel times, especially if they schedule for quick transfers to the existing Tokaido Shinkansen).
Apparently they're also trying to get a demonstration service running from Tokyo to Kofu by 2020 for the Olympics, although I don't know how optimistic that is.
When I was last in China (2008), it took an overnight rail train ride to get between Beijing and Shanghai. They've already improved by leaps and bounds, it seems.
Offering a 2.5hr drive between the 2 major cities should pay off financially.
[1] http://www.scmp.com/news/china/economy/article/2049785/china...