Halving travel time is not a minimal gain, but more importantly it’s a demonstration of technological prowess. If China has a commercial maglev operating it’s a showcase of things they can build for other countries. It’s important to keep in mind that a lot of countries don’t have well developed HSR systems or much rail at all. If China can now offer building maglev for them which is ahead of what any other country can do.
It would have to be a big project because you don’t really get the benefits otherwise. The train needs time to accelerate and decelerate, and it’s only worth building a track over a very long distance where it can mostly go in a straight line at top speed.
Halving travel time is not a minimal gain, but more importantly it’s a demonstration of technological prowess. If China has a commercial maglev operating it’s a showcase of things they can build for other countries. It’s important to keep in mind that a lot of countries don’t have well developed HSR systems or much rail at all. If China can now offer building maglev for them which is ahead of what any other country can do.
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Indeed, I’m just noting factors in favor of building a demonstration line even if it might seem wasteful on the surface.
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It would have to be a big project because you don’t really get the benefits otherwise. The train needs time to accelerate and decelerate, and it’s only worth building a track over a very long distance where it can mostly go in a straight line at top speed.