UK Ultraspeed welcomes the confirmation by the new Secretary of State for Transport, Rt Hon Geoff Hoon MP, that maglev remains under consideration by DfT.

 

Ultraspeed yesterday issued the following press release on the subject, which also corrects the statement made before the committee that maglev is more expensive than rail.

 

300mph maglev back on UK agenda

UK Ultraspeed, the company promoting 500 km/h (311 mph)

maglev in Britain today welcomed Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon's statement to the House of Commons Transport Select Committee.  Mr Hoon confirmed that maglev will be considered alongside slower 300km/h (186 mph) TGV-style systems  for a strategic North:South high speed network.

 

Speaking 30/10/08, UK Ultraspeed CEO, Dr Alan James said: “We welcome Geoff Hoon’s comments that maglev is being considered by the Government as a high speed

ground transport system linking North and South. However we must take issue with the suggestion made at the Commons Transport Committee that a TGV-style train option would be cheaper than maglev – it is not."

 

In fact, maglev capital costs average approximately £30m per route km, including complex sections such as traversing the Pennines and alignments into the hearts of cities.  By contrast, the Department for Transport has itself published an out-turn cost for the UK's only TGV-style railway, the St Pancras to Channel Tunnel line, of £56.42m per km (or over £60m per km in 2008 values directly comparable to the maglev costing).  

 

Dr James said: "maglev is much more flexible and uses much less land than TGV-style rail.  This makes up-front capital costs for maglev highly competitive with much slower rail systems.  Furthermore, only one maglev line is required to serve all the major markets along both the East Coast and West Coast corridors; two TGV-style railways would be needed.  That's 100 km - 200 km less infrastructure and several billion pounds saved by adopting maglev even before the first service operates.  Finally, over the whole life of the project, maglev economics are even more compelling.  Friction-free maglev has long-term operating costs between 35% to 50%  lower than TGV-style rail.  Taking all the above advantages into account, studies have proved that maglev comfortably delivers higher speed, faster journeys and much better value than any comparably-scoped TGV-style rail project".

 

 

Ongoing work on the 840 km London – Scotland system is producing a total capital cost in the order of £25bn, less than half the £60bn cost mentioned to the Select Committee. 

 

Dr James concluded: "UK Ultraspeed maglev is the only ground transport system that can link all the major cities between London and Scotland with journeys that are faster than flying.  We look forward to delivering the factual and financial case to policy-makers and politicians in the coming months, now that the consensus is established that investment in high speed ground transport is an urgent necessity."

 

ENDS 30/10/2008