Comments by "Peter Jacobsen" (@pjacobsen1000) on "China tests high-speed magnetic levitation train that could move as fast as a plane" video.

China has been researching and developing maglev trains for close to 25 years now. Progress is certainly being made, but it isn't only the technology that is the stumbling block. The cost of the whole system will likely continue to be prohibitive for years to come. The Shanghai Maglev is nice, but I don't think it ever paid itself off. I think it's like the Concorde Jet: Yes, it can be done, but does it make economic sense to do it?
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@watb8689 "Shanghai maglev is already profitable". Do you have any sources for this claim? I did a search and there is not much to find. A Trip (携程) article from 2019 said it's not profitable. Based on the construction cost and estimated daily passenger numbers, it's unlikely to be profitable.
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@jeffbolton2986 Sure, but some public transport is too expensive to make sense. It's all a question of budgeting. Some things we can afford, other things we can't. For example, we could build metro systems in every town, but for most places that would be a massive waste of money, so we only build metro systems in bigger cities. We could make sure everybody can take a private jet everywhere for $ 5,- but it would be much too costly. The numbers have to add up somehow.
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@pisablavatsky-cb3dd Only that article from C-trip (携程) that I referenced earlier. Purely anecdotally, I have taken the maglev several times and I have never seen it full. Personally, I feel a taxi is more convenient for people who live in PuXi. Alternatively, maglev + metro.
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@pisablavatsky-cb3dd I don't think that's luck. The train seems to run at below capacity most of the time. The first 10 years or so, it ran at only 25% capacity. But the morning trains often reach 60-80% capacity, so maybe that is what you have experienced.
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