Maglev Trains Of The Future

There is a new form of rail transportation that will revolutionise transportation of the 21^st the
way that airplanes did in the 20^th century. Maglev is short for 'Magnetic Levitation'. Japan and
Germany are both developing this technology. The basic idea is that these trains will levitate a distance above
the guide rails and travel at speeds of up to 500km/h. This will help to satisfy the demands of today's fast
paced society.

Electromagnetic Propulsion

The opposite poles of magnets attract each other and like ends repel, this is the simple principle behind electromagnetic propulsion. However electromagnets attract metal objects while charged with electricity, the pull is temporary and dependent on the charge. For a train to operate three major components must be present in the system: a powerful electrical power source, large guidance magnets attached to the underside of the train, a track lined with metal coils.

Image courtesy of Railway Technical Institute

The magnetized coil running along the track, is called the guideway. This will repel the large magnets on the underside of the carriage, causing the train to hover above the track. The electric current supplied to the coils in the guideway is constantly alternating and uniquely pull and push the train along the guideway. The key advantage of the Maglev train is that it floats on a cushion of air, with virtually no friction. This allows the train to reach such high               Image courtesy Howstuffworks.com                                            speeds!

Transrapid International are developing an electromagnetic suspension system (EMS). They have already demonstrated that it can reach 500Km/h with people on board. This speed can get a pasenger from Paris to Rome in 2 hours. The Swiss are considering a new 700km system. The developers of these trains will most likely be connecting major cities up to 1600km away from each other, linking the most busy routes and exploiting their niche by being the fastest mode of accessable transport. The development of such a high speed network has been stunted by the high investment required. The costs of producing the guideway at the moment still remains quite high at $10 million to $30million per mile. However this is not so outrageous in comparison with cost per mile highway of $20million to $30million. The trains could begin their first commuter services by 2004.