National Maglev Train System

[nickmgray]

I've been doing some research on Maglev train systems. It seems that, like always, the U.S. is lagging behind in the implementation on this new transporation technology. From what I've read it seems like Germany, Japan, and China are the only countries that have implemented maglev trains and there's an extensive proposal in place for several Afircan countries.

Anyone have any info on what the U.S. is planning on?

[monsoon]

Maglev is a dead technology.

[nickmgray]

Maglev is a dead technology.

What makes it a dead technology? Trains traveling at 300+ MPH sounds pretty appealing to me. At thos speeds, travel times would be better than air travel since there would not be any 45 minute lines to get through security.

Imagine a one hour trip from Minneapolis to Chicago without the hassles of the airport.

[monsoon]

While it sounds good, they have not gotten it to work anywhere at a tolerable cost. It costs far too much, uses too much energy, and makes and unacceptable amount of noise. The countries mentioned in this post have not done much with it except spend a great deal of money only to build a couple of demonstration lines. Maglev is being hyped in this country without understanding its limitations.

If they were serious about high speed rail here, they would spend their money on more conventional high speed rail which can reach 240mph without becoming a science experiment.

[satalac]

where would the noise come from? i always thought that it would be a lot quieter than a regular train traveling at those speeds due to the fact that it's not actually in contact with anything. is there a loud hum from the magnets?

[dexxtreme]

I've been doing some research on Maglev train systems. It seems that, like always, the U.S. is lagging behind in the implementation on this new transporation technology. From what I've read it seems like Germany, Japan, and China are the only countries that have implemented maglev trains and there's an extensive proposal in place for several Afircan countries.

Anyone have any info on what the U.S. is planning on?

Maglev trains take enormous amounts of money to construct. Nobody has a *real* large-scale maglev track in use. The largest one in production is the one running from downtown Shanghai to the Shanghai airport, and that is only 30 km long. The longest maglev test track in testing/development is only around 40km or so. Such short distances would barely suffice for an intra-city transit system, and would not work for commuter lines, much less an interstate transit system. And that is before the costs are even factored in. It will take decades before the Shanghai line even pays back its initial construction costs, not to mention the standard day to day maintenance and operational costs.

[monsoon]

Indeed. It's for these reasons the Chinese have abandoned plans for a longer maglev and instead have opted for more conventional high speed rail. The only reason the line was built in the first place was because the Germans, who developed the technology, offered up a lot of money to built it and more importantly to share the technical secrets behind it.

[nickmgray]

I found a news article from last week talking about the development for a maglev line 269 miles between Anaheim and Las Vegas. The article mentions that the congress has authorized about 45 million dollars for the project.

http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_3215792

I know the costs are simply outragious, but I think the government may be willing to spend a little extra if it helps reduce polution from cars and airlines.

[monsoon]

That was a pork barrel project. It will never see the light of day. It's an example of the misguided transit policy with the Federal Government. There is none. They should not be wasting valuable transit money on these uncoordinated projects that do not bring any benefits to anyone.

[nickmgray]

I think though that there should be several test projects that can be used to measure the impact of this transportation system. I think the main problem here in the U.S. is that we say we are forward thinking and want to help the envoronment, but all we think of is ourselves.

No one can really say how a maglev transit system will impact a region until it is actually built. In Minneapolis, people tried for years to stop the LRT from being constructed, but only one year since it has started opperating (with more than 60% ridership than expected), people don't know how they would live without it.

Anyone have any technical specs on noise, power consumption or anything like that. I'd love to see the real numbers rather than just hearing "it's loud and uses a lot of electricity"

[UrbanAtl]

I have always envied Europe for their rail systems. The US doesn't charge people to drive on our federally funded interstate highways why should it be any different for rail in the US??? (not counting local tolls)

When we do go rail, I hope we put as much into the system as we have with the interstates. IMO going mag is the only way to justify why we will have waited so long. It's still so far away before.... anything begins with a national system. We have the time to get it right.