Maglev controversy
Zabidur Rahman, On e-mail
I would like to respond to the letter of Mr Anisul Huq headed "Maglev Train". It seems that Mr Huq is merely repeating the incorrect statements that an earlier contributor made when he states, for one example, "....only Maglev train outside laboratory test track is a 30-kilometer track from Shanghai city centre to the Airport...". That statement of his is simply not true. Of course there is a track at Shanghai, another long track in Japan that has been in operation for many years and there is a commercial track also in the USA; so Mr Huq is wrong on that score. He also states that the cost for the Shanghai project was US$40M,which in fact was US$65M plus, but at the same time he conveniently leaves out the fact that there are other Maglev systems at less than US$12M per mile. There are many advantages to Maglev over conventional wheeled railway systems, and the fact is that they cost much less to operate and require much less maintenance simply for the reason that they do not have wheels. Surely it would be advantageous for our country to have such a system,especially as it will be paid for by foreign investment. In short, I think that Minister Huda is correct in his support for Maglev and in due course this will be proved.
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