The Magplane: Stringing Urban Islands and the 9+2 Concept in the Pan River Delta Region

 

December 8th, 2004

 

 

According to the Economist (November 20, 2004), “If China’s Pearl River Delta Region wants to retain its dynamism, it has to expand hugely.” 

 

Because of the enormous success of the economic reforms of Deng Xiaoping and the proximity of nearby Hong Kong, the Pearl River Delta region has grown in two decades, to become the world’s largest producer of almost every manufacturing good available.  Such rapid growth has produced inevitable negative effects that include: severe labour shortages; rising wage costs; pollution; transportation and power bottlenecks; and housing shortages with related rising housing costs. 

 

For example, the Washington Post reported on the growing social unrest of workers in Guangzhou who are demanding higher wages.  In the Shanlin Technology appliance factory, employees walked off the assembly line recently until their wage and working condition demands were met.

 

While growth has continued, the pace has slowed allowing neighbouring Yangtze River Delta (YRD) to grow at twice the rate of the PRD.  For example, Shanghai attracted $21 billion in foreign investment while Guangdong brought in $7.8 billion in foreign investment last year.

 

Another barrier to continued economic growth has been a lack of coordinated infrastructure planning between the provinces, towns and local districts.  For example while five airports have been built within 90 kms, no government body saw the need to construct a ground transportation system to connect the airports. 

 

In order to alleviate the problems of urban growth and the barriers to coordinated infrastructure investment, officials are enlarging the River Delta Region.  This new region is to be called the “Pan-Pearl River Delta”.  Also known as the “9+2”, the region includes the nine provinces of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangxi, Hainan, Guizhou, Yunnan and Sichuan and the two administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau. 

 

Source: Economist, November 18, 2004

 

According to Michael Enright of the University of Hong Kong's School of Business who has studied the PRD region for years, he believes the plan is a step in the right direction.  But massive transportation infrastructure investments will have to be made in the next 30 years to integrate the poorer western provinces with the PRD economy.  This integration should improve household incomes in the western provinces and elevate them closer to the incomes of the eastern provinces.

 

In order to establish a vibrant regional economy, improved linkages between the urban centers of the Pan Pearl River Delta Region will have to be effected.  These transportation links would facilitate labour mobility and the movement of goods within the enlarged region.  The greater the ease to move freely within the Pan Pearl River Delta Region at an affordable commuting cost, the greater the economic gain for the region, and for the nation itself.

 

Certainly improved road and air links will have to be established.  But what effective role could a maglev system fill in the region?  The Mass Transit Today publication (Jul-Sept 2002) provides an interesting answer.

 

This journal advocates the development of a maglev system that is able to combine the speed of fast intercity transportation systems like air, with the ease, low cost, and high reliability characteristics of mass transit technologies.  Mass Transit Today argues that a good objective for maglev transportation technologies to follow would be to make metropolitan based transportation links like subways, and light rail fast enough to link adjacent metropolitan regions.  Maglev should not try to compete with the airlines.  A better solution would be to apply the technology to significantly improve the speed while minimizing the cost of construction for mass transit.

 

“A key ingredient of this new urban form (interlocking metropolitan region or the Pan River Delta Region) is a mass transit system that is capable of transporting large volumes of commuters within the region at high speeds and at a low cost to commuters.”

Mass Transit, Jul-Sep 2002, page 33

 

 

 

 

 

 

Magplane Technology is designed to provide for both intracity and intercity transportation links.  Both technologies can operate using the same guideway and are also designed to provide affordable commuting services for a very mobile workforce in the newly established “Pan Pearl River Delta Region.”  If built, the Magplane would allow workers to move easily within a 540 kilometre radius of Guangzhou, a one-hour commute from station to station.

 

The operating characteristics of the Magplane are:  

 

 

Parameter

High capacity intercity vehicle

Lower capacity intercity vehicle

High capacity intracity vehicle

Capacity

175 seated

80 seated

250 standing or 490 crush load

Dimension (width, height, length)

3.2m by 2.9 m by 38.4 m

3.2 m by 2.9 m by 23 m

3.2 m by 2.9 m by 33.7 m

Gross mass

47.7 ton

30 ton

45 ton

Payload capacity

20.6 ton

12.4 ton

20.6 ton

Maximum speed

540 km/hr

540 km/hr

100 km/hr

 

Like a string of pearls, a Magplane system will be able to link distant urban islands in the Pan River Delta Region to create a vibrant enlarged urban economy that will benefit from the advantages of a large agglomeration of urban workers without the disadvantages of a congested small metropolitan region.

Sources:

1.        Economist, “If China’s Pearl River Delta Region wants to retain its dynamism, it has to expand hugely”, November 20, 2004.

2.        Washington Post, “In China, Workers Turn Tough”, November 27, 2004.

3.        Mass Transit Today, “China Mass Transit Industry,” Jul-Sep 2002.