High-speed rail: A response to Councilman Brown…

The Shanghai Maglev.  The picture was taken by my colleague, Professor Julia Zhou of Ningbo University, when I was there in 2006.

I respect for Councilman Peter Brown.  He’s been quite generous with his time in appearances before my Urban Government and Houston classes, as well as in providing internship opportunities for our students.  Hell, I’ve been to his house to speak on Houston politics.  But… I have a point of contention with an observation that he made in his op-ed piece in the Sunday Houston Chronicle.

Brown observed:

Major world cities are making huge “smart” investments in carefully planned, pro-growth rail systems. The transit menu includes conventional streetcars and subways, fast commuter lines, 180- mile-per-hour bullet trains and even higher speed mag-lev lines, such as the link between downtown Shanghai, China, and its airport. The European Union, with sleek, high-tech trains linking just about every major city, is a model for transportation efficiency, with one-half the per-capita energy consumption as the United States. This is a significant competitive advantage.

I will neither agree nor disagree with his observations about E.U. trains and cities.  Tory Gattis offers a differing opinion on Europe, noting that European cities are older, have a much higher density, and were built during an era of walking.

But I will disagree with Councilman Brown on Shanghai.  I was in Shanghai for an academic conference in October of 2006 and will return there in October for another academic conference.  When I was there, I took the Shanghai Maglev (上海磁浮示范运营线), which can be picked up east of the Pudong Financial District at Longyang Road Station (龙阳路), to Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport (PVG;上海浦东国际机场). How did I and my Chinese and Australian colleagues actually get to the Maglev station?  By taxi. Because of its unique technology, the Maglev is not linked to the Shanghai subway system — you have to get off and get on a regular subway train or take a taxi to get to the Pudong.

No question, the Maglev is one hell of an adventure (particularly when you’re going 431km/hr or 267 mph/hr) and would be a very, very quick trip from Bush IAH to Downtown.  The route from Longyang Road to to PVG is 19 miles (roughly the same distance down the Hardy Tollway from Bush IAH to Downtown) and takes about 8 minutes.

The Shanghai Maglev: Yes, it really does go that fast…

Brown also notes in his op-ed a conversation that he had with a talkative business executive, who explained to him that:

“Houston is a great city to do business, very friendly, but if you expect to compete worldwide, you better have a high-speed train from downtown to your airports, and soon!”

If this business executive is placing Shanghai in that category, fine.  But if you think that businesspeople are regularly taking the Maglev to and from the Pudong, think again.  The Shanghai Maglev is not a commercial success.  The cost of a one way ticket is ¥50 (about $7.00) and ¥40 (about $5.60) for airline passengers with proof of an airline ticket purchase receipt.  While $7.00 seems a bit pricey for a one-way mass transit commute to Houston’s Downtown, it is prohibitively expensive for the average Shanghaier.  Not surprisingly, it deters ridership.  The Maglev usually runs at 20%  of capacity and requires heavy subsidies from the government in order to operate at all.  It’s a great novelty trip for visitors — and will be showcased during Expo 2010 — but as a regular-use mass transit system for the average citizen, it’s a non-starter.

Would a Maglev high-speed rail system in Houston really be any different?