Barely a day goes by without a new electric-vehicle announcement. And while most activity centres on manufacturers looking to engineer a route out of recession, an interesting by-product of this low-carbon momentum is that the auto industry – for so long wedded to suppliers of traditional technology – is having to look elsewhere for its technology. Increasingly, industries which barely crossed paths in the past, find themselves sat at the same table discussing the future.
The Innovation in Crops (Incrops) project that will be launched later this week in Cambridge is a case in point.
Led by the University of East Anglia and jointly funded by the EU and the East of England Development Agency (EEDA), the aim of the initiative is to develop new industrial applications for non-food crops.
Those involved believe that our changing climate and the demand for sustainable low-carbon materials could provide some big business opportunities not least in the automotive industry, which has been investigating the replacement of man-made materials for a number of years.
Staying on the subject of transport, our national rail network will be back under the spotlight this week as train operator Southeastern opens its high-speed Javelin service between Kent and London to the public.
The limited ‘preview’ service, which will run until the system’s full introduction this winter, will whisk customers between Ashford and London at 140mph, reducing the journey time from 82 to 37 minutes.
Hailed by the government as the dawn of a new high-speed era, and by Network Rail boss Iain Coucher as the shape of things to come the service, sure to draw envious glances from rail users all over the UK, will pour more fuel on the great high-speed rail debate. What do you think? Is the Javelin really the way forward? Or should our transport planners plump for a more radical solution? Maglev anyone?
Finally, an intriguing insight into an emerging industry as the leading lights in the burgeoning space tourism business gather in London tomorrow.
Delegates at the conference (Space Tourism: A New Industry in the Making) will hear from Virgin Galactic, EADS Astrium (and everyone else queuing up for a slice of this potentially lucrative pie) about the latest technical developments in a field whose rapid rise has drawn attention to the glacial pace of change in other areas of the space industry. Being realistic, space tourism is likely to be the sole preserve of the ridiculously wealthy for many years to come. But while budget package tours to the moon may still be a long way off there are nevertheless many UK companies with the technology and expertise to cash in on this nascent area of transport.
Jon Excell
Deputy Editor
140 mph in Kent! Remember, the East Coast Main Line had 140mph trains introduced in 1989, but never allowed to run at more than 125mph in service, and Pendilino 140mph trains on the West Coast Main Line also restricted to 125mph. The Javelin trains are restricted to 140mph against Eurostar trains using the same route at 187mpg! Once again, domestic services are compromised significantly.
Maglev? No chance, too expensive to build, too expensive to run, noisy, and until we have cheap, sustainable means of generating electricity, forget it.
It is too early yet to determine if Javelin is worth it. For a start, most of Kent and Sussex commuting is not from Ashford. How does one get there? By car? Or normal commuting train? Is Javelin capable of third rail electric operation? What about commuters wanting to get to offices near to the traditional southern termini? Will future conjestion on the high speed line reduce punctuality?
We need more detail and readers are probably getting bored with the “37 minutes from Ashford..” propaganda.
The optimum future is to develop the high speed line to far more continental destinations; hen and stag parties to Amsterdam, Antwerp, Cologne,Prague and Berlin instead of the awful cheap airlines; package holidays to the french and spanish coasts etc etc, bypassing the hell of airport delays.
Above all Javelin is costly and it will only reduce profitability on the existing commuter routes.
Operating a Maglev costs about 30% of the cost of conventional high-speed trains. Moreover, the noise levels of a Maglev are dramatically lower than of any other transport system in the world. A Maglev at 150mph is quieter than average urban background noise, effectively meaning that you can’t hear it at all. This speed is perfect for cruising in heavily populated areas, and in intercity regions, Maglev at its cruising speed of 311mph is not louder than a truck at 50mph.
Maglev infrastructure costs are approximately equal to those of conventional high-speed rail; in UK’s case, Maglev is significantly cheaper because of the favourable alignment opportunities originating from Britain’s geographic conditions.
All in all, building and operating a Maglev already pays off in about five years; its very low maintenance costs make up for the invested capital costs. And you don’t build major rail infrastructure for less than five years.
Maglev is no more expensive to build than high-speed rail, especially in challenging terrain or congested urban areas, and its operation costs are at least 30% less. Further, it’s been confirmed by experts to be quieter than any train in the world running at any speed.
Postulating that maglev’s too expensive without having any useful information to back up the position is folly.
The Javelin service will not just run from Ashford, the full service will include routes along the north of Kent (Canterbury, Gravesend), as well as from the south.
My main concern is that it only serves the north London terminals, where I (and many others) have more use of the southern terminals. There is a risk that they may well reduce the frequency of the ‘semi-fast’ regular commuter services going into the south of the city, charge 50% more to travel on the Javelin service, and then have the added impact (cost and time) of having to travel to work by tube or bus from north london (nowhere near as environmentally friendly as my current walk!).
Having said that, they have to start somewhere, and the introduction of high-speed travel could effectively spread the commuter belt out to a wider audience – whether or not South Eastern can actually run a decent service remains to be seen though!