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I would like to address several of the items I have seen in this forum. CONCERNING MAGLEV TRAINS OPERATING TODAY The Superman ride is not a maglev train at all. The cars have steel wheels with solid polyproylene tires riding on steel rails. It is powered by a linear electric motor, which is one of the components of maglev technology...the one used to propel the train forward or backward. There are currently four major maglev projects in the world today. One is the Transrapid test facility in Lathen, Germany. At this test facility, a consortium of ThyssenKrupp and Siemens (The GE and Westinghouse of Germany) have been testing maglev trains at speeds in excess of 300 miles per hour since the 1980's. I have had the priveledge of riding the Transrapid test train. Even in a heavy crosswind, the train provided a ride so smooth I could stand up in the aisle without holding onto anything. While standing, I snapped a picture of the speedometer (displayed on the ceiling of every car) reading 403 KPS (Kilometer Pro Stunde...German for Kilometers per hour). The second is a Transrapid system operating in revenue service as an airport connection in Shanghai, China between the financial district and the international airport. The third is the Japanese superconducting maglev "Shinkansen" train. It is expected to be on the market for revenue service routes in a couple of years. The third is an underfunded project in Hampton Roads, Virginia. At the quaint little Old Dominion University, a consortium of GE, Lockheed, and ODU are working together to put the finishing touches on a hand-built maglev train that runs over about a half mile of track through the ODU campus. Due to a lack of sufficient engineering staff and funding, the system is not working properly yet. The single car moves along the guideway, but the ride is not smooth or safe. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE MAGNETS FAIL? This actually answers sever questions in one. The Japanese system does not levitate until it exceeds 100 MPH. Before it hits that speed, it rides on a retractable landing gear, just like an aircraft. The German Transrapid system has a different solution. The Transrapid uses a combination of induction magnets in the guideway, battery powered electromagnets in the trains, and induction electromagnets in the train. The induction magnets only create a magnetic field when the train is moving and inducing a current in them. The linear electric motor which propels the train uses a separate system of electromagnets to propel the train. As a result, the train's motion generates the necessary magnetic fields to do the heavy lifting. The trains motion also generates the necessary electricity to keep the onboard batteries charged. Electricity from outside is only necessary to propel the train forward. Cutting off the electrical supply will not cause the train to "fall." The train will simply rely on its own batteries to keep the train levitated until it comes to a complete stop. The batteries provide enough juice for the train to "hover" for up to half an hour. When the trains are stopped in stations, they "settle" onto the guideway to conserve juice. Upon departure, they "lift off" and continue on their way. Stability is provided by superfast computers that constantly adjust the power of the magnetic field to keep the train within its proper location tolerances. If some extenuating circumstances caused the train to "fall," the train would simply settle onto the guideway and scrape itself to a stop, but the engineers have provided the necessary skids on the undersides of the cars to allow that to happen with a minimum of damage. If you wonder if this is possible, may I remind you that the Wright Flyer and the X-15 both landed on skids and survived to fly again. WHY ARE MAGLEV'S STREAMLINED? Maglevs are streamlined for the same reason regular trains are streamlined and why my Lincoln Mark VIII gets better gas mileage than my mother's Ford Explorer despite the fact that my Lincoln has a far bigger engine. It takes less propulsive energy to push a streamlined train through the atmosphere than a boxy one. Technically, the Transrapid technology, which uses "Longstator" technology just needs physically bigger magnets on the guideway to provide more power (Just like adding a locomotive), but it still makes sense to use the minimum amount of energy necessary to get the train from point A to point B.
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