New railway station

[murrayspeaks]

China is researching maglev trains, imagine if such research came to fruition. Cross continent travel could be achieved at incredible speeds, making air travel seem slow and old fashioned. My question is, where in Beijing would be the best place for such a mode of travel that would rapidly overtake flight for international routes?

[Shelley]

Beijing already has built a transport hub that is an airport, and train station.

 

Beijing Capitol International airport.

 

Have a look here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing_Capital_International_Airport

 

I think they would have the maglift station here as it is suppose to be a central travel hub.

[murrayspeaks]

Thank you for your reply. The airport is situated quite away from city centre for obvious reasons but in a future where air travel was largely replaced by maglev, perhaps it might be better to have a more centrally located portal, do you not thing?

[Angelina]

There is a maglev already in Shanghai

http://www.smtdc.com/en/gycf3.html

http://www.maglev.net/shanghai-maglev

[murrayspeaks]

Thank you, I was unaware of that but it is early days in maglevs, in the future they will run many, many times faster, so much so they will make air travel largely redundant

[Angelina]

the early days of maglevs were 100 years ago, just like electric vehicles

let's hope your ideas come true

[murrayspeaks]

The concept originated in fiction 100 years or more ago but it is early days as a practical means of transport

[imron]

perhaps it might be better to have a more centrally located portal, do you not thing?

The main problem with that is that existing infrastructure is in the way.

If you are willing to explain that away, then Beijing Train Station is located right in the heart of the city.

To add extra colour to your novel, there were large protests by shanghai residents when the maglev was being built because they didn't want the electromagnetic radiation near their houses.

I imagine you'd have something similar if you had a maglev running through Central Beijing.

[murrayspeaks]

Thank you for that useful information

[imron]

See for example: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7188122.stm

[vellocet]

They paid for a maglev to be built in Shanghai by a German company, then ripped off the tech to build their own maglev somewhere else...Suzhou maybe?  Anyway China found out that maglev tech is hugely expensive and totally not worth it.  Otherwise there would be a maglev between Hangzhou and Shanghai right now.  That was the plan.  Then expand all over China.  But it didn't happen due to the cost, and the only maglev remaining is the foreign-built one.

[imron]

OP is writing a SF novel set in the future.  Hugely expensive is easy enough to write away, as 'now it's the future, and maglev tech is cheap and plentiful'.

[vellocet]

Oh!  OK that wasn't really clear he was writing a book.  A maglev station would probably be in the outskirts of Beijing because it's too much destruction to plow a new train line through the already-built-up city.  Moreover most people in Beijing don't live in the center of the city, so to go there would be inconvenient.  Heck, you can live in Beijing for years and never once go to the city center.  Let's also consider where land could be sold that would make the most money for the leadership.  Find out where that is and you'll find out where the new maglev station would be. 

[murrayspeaks]

I am a little confused, google earth shows a number of railway stations in Beijing but I am unable to ascertain where they go. Are some international and some local? If one traveled  by train to Beijing from outside China, say Russia, by train, where might one arrive?

[roddy]

The trains from Russia arrive at the main station, Beijing Zhan.

 

If you want some futuristic, wow-awesome, location, put it under Tiananmen Square. More realistic is probably at or around where Beijing South is - further out of town. By the time it's happening probably all of Hebei will be considered 'central Beijing' anyway. 

[murrayspeaks]

Thanks buddy

[murrayspeaks]

Is that in the Dongchen district? 

[roddy]

Is Beijing Railway Station in Dongcheng? You don't even need to look at Wikipedia for that, Google 'Beijing Railway Station' and it's in the Google snippet. 

[murrayspeaks]

That maybe true but as I am unfamiliar with Beijing and as googling such reveals there are many stations in Beijing I was seeking clarification as to which of the many stations Beijing Zhan is