On 2nd July 2021, Women in Rail Malaysia was privileged to be able to partner with YTL Construction and JR Central to organise a knowledge sharing session entitled ‘HSR for Today, MAGLEV for the Future’ in an online lunchtime talk via Zoom.
We were deeply honoured to have Mr Torkel Patterson, a board member of JR Central (Japan) in this one-hour session where he had shared how the Japanese railway industry reinvented itself in the 1980s and also why JR Central decided to stretch itself and invest in building the Superconducting Maglev (SCMAGLEV) line between Tokyo and Osaka.
Mr. Patterson who is also the Vice Chairman of the International High Speed Rail Association is a familiar face to Women in Rail Malaysia and has conducted several knowledge sharing sessions with our members in the past.
Key takeaways from this session include (1) how Shinkansen has transformed Japanese railways, (2) the impact Shinkansen has had on economic growth in urban areas, (3) the technological investments being made by JR Central to commercialize the MAGLEV between Tokyo and Osaka and (4) the technical improvement of Shinkansen since 1964.
The audience were also given a chance for a Q&A session towards the end of the session and we would like to thank everyone for the overwhelming response.
