They were invented decades ago.
They have fewer moving parts than wheelbois.
They require less maintenance.
Thereโs obviously some bottleneck in expanding maglev technology, but what is it?
To append, some examples of high speed systems with multiple manufacturers.
๐ช๐บ๐ฌ๐ง: Eurostar has, for the Channel Tunnel, two types of train built by two manufacturers. The old type by Alstom, the new type by Siemens.
๐ช๐ธ: Just AVE has three different builders. The S-101 by Alstom, the S-102 by Talgo and the S-103 by Siemens. The S-102 is also used by Avlo, while OuiGo used Euroduplex sets by Alstom, and Iryo uses ETR 1000 sets built by Hitachi Italy.
๐ฎ๐น: The ETR 500 is built by a consortium of manufacturers, several of which have been absorbed by others. The ETR 1000 has been built by a chain of builders due to mergers n stuff. And the NTV units are built by Alstom.
๐ฏ๐ต: Pretty much every major manufacturer of rolling stock has built at least some Shinkansen units. Youโll find trains by Hitachi, Mitsubishi, Kawasaki and others all over the network.
๐จ๐ณ: The first generations of CHSR trains were all imported designs, derived from others, both Shinkansen and European types. This allowed them to kickstart a domestic rolling stock industry for later generations of train.
๐จ๐ญ: Once we lower our standards of speed a touch, SBB uses two types, one by Alstom built in Italy, one by Stadler built domestically. And trains from neighbouring networks ride into particular areas, each of which has their own builders.