Meeting Details:
Next meeting: Apr 27th: 7:30 Central
Agenda:
Elections
Faster Headlines
JR Central Internship
Truly Green Transportation
Faster Headlines
The Points Guy
Fast Company
Vice
NPR
Railway Age
Smart Cities Dive
Arabian Business
Toronto Star
The Architects Newspaper
Central Japan Railways
One of seven high speed rail lines in Japan
Privatized in 1987
Operates Tokyo to Osaka (Takaido Shinkansen)
60% of Japan’s Population lies along route
64% of the GDP of the country
Carries more passengers than United, Delta, American or Southwest Airlines (2019)
466,000 passengers a day
United Airlines only carries 433,000
Amtrak only carries 87,000
Trains operate at 305 mph
Local conventional lines up to 110 mph
Taikado Shinkansen up to 186 mph
Building the 305 mph SC maglev Tokyo-Nagoya (2028)
In 2019
Revenues of 16.9 Billion USD
Operating Income of $6.4 billion
$745 million Real Estate Division
United States Projects:
Texas Central Railways (American owned company)
Northeast Maglev (American owned company)
Internship program – UW, Vanderbilt, Texas A&M, Maryland (but only UW-Madison in 2021)
UW-Madison & JR Central have a 20+ year relationshipons
From the Captain
What if Train's Cleaned the Air?
Over 28% of green house gas emissions come from transportation, according to the EPA. While visions of electric vehicles and hydrogen power cells dance in our heads to make transportation a net neutral emitter, what if it's possible to create a form of transportation that is a net negative emitter (meaining collects Carbon)? Think a vehicle that scrubs the air for CO2 as it moves along at 200 mph, then unloads its collection of carbon at the station which can then be buried or converted in jetfuel to make aircraft net neutral.
Seem far fetched? Well it may be closer than you think.
There is a whole new generation of carbon dioxide traps that are emerging. With this tech air in drawn in and passes through water containing CO2 grabbing molecules called "amines". 90% of the CO2 is grabbed and then the air is released. Meanwhile the amines are then heated to 110 degrees Celsius, which releases the CO2. The amines are then cooled and returned back into the system while the CO2 is either refined for other uses or stored back in the ground.
Current projects have a fixed location with large fan systems that force air into the system. The problem they take up a large amount of real estate, won't be located in areas of the highest CO2 levels...the cities.
However, instead imagine a high speed train (themselves powered by geothermal systems that are completely CO2 free) racing into and out of cities scrubbing the air of CO2 as they move. On the train that looks similar to a jet engine, but this "engine" is the opposite of a jet engine.
Instead of the fan blades compressing the air for a combustion chamber, air is compressed and sent into a CO2 reclamation system. Clean air flows out the back of the engine while CO2 flows into storage tanks. Then the train pulls into the station and offloads it tank of carbon for either refining into jet fuel to be buried at a $50/per ton tax rebate.
While it may still be years away, it is not that far fetched to imagine. After all, while carbon capture tech is large and bulky today, so were the initial computers or steam engines. But over time these new technologies will become smaller, more compact, and could likely piggy back on something as simple as a high speed train.
