Tom Barry writes:
How do they reduce the operating noise? Is it by running mainly
through open countryside, tunnelling under towns, or what?

The Stuttgart-Ulm project in Germany contains a staggering amount of
tunnel - it's virtually a long-distance Tube line. The bits that aren't
in tunnel are alongside an autobahn.

The Chuo (maglev) Shinkansen (now in planning stage) is supposedly going
to be 60% underground. The chosen route is 286km long, and very
mountainous.

...
The primary reason for the project's huge expense is that it is
planned to run in a tunnel for more than 60% of the entire line, and
40 m underground (deep underground) for a total of 100 km in the
Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka areas.

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chūō_Shinkansen)

From what I understand, one big reason for constructing the new line,
instead of trying to increase speeds on the existing tokaido line, is
aerodynamic noise in populated areas. I guess building 40m underground
through sparsely populated areas should give them a bit of relief from
that problem; sure it costs 50 billion dollars, but...

-Miles

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