British shadow chancellor George Osborne has called for the UK to invest in maglev train technology, a mode of rail transport that, as the name implies, uses magnets to levitate and pull trains at high speed floating just above the track. Shanghai has the only commercial maglev system in the world at the moment, though the Chinese are looking at wider applications for maglev technology, as are the Japanese and Germans.

At $23 million per mile, maglev systems are already twice as expensive as conventional high speed rail systems, meaning high levels of investment are needed, and high passenger numbers to pay off the investment in a reasonable period. And maglev requires good engineering, something Britain has been lacking in recent public infrastructure projects.