Maglev Trains

The need for fast and reliable transportation is increasing throughout the world. High-speed rail has been the solution for many countries. Trains are fast, comfortable, and energy-efficient. The United States is years behind European countries in high-speed rail research and development. Meanwhile, in Germany and Japan, magnetic levitation may be an even better solution.

Maglev research and development began in Germany and Japan during the early 1970's. After laboratory tests in both countries, a test track was constructed in Japan during the mid-1970's and in Germany during the mid-1980's.

The construction of a 7-km test track began in Miyazaki Prefecture in Japan in 1975 and was completed in April of 1977. Test runs of the ML-500 began on the Miyazaki Test Track in July of 1977 and a 517 km/hour run was attained in December 1979. Two-car train sets began testing in 1981 and three-car train sets in 1986. The manned two-vehicle train MLU001 reached a speed of 400.8 km/hour in 1987. In 1990, the Minister of Transport of Japan authorized construction of the Yamanashi Maglev Test Line. It was to be the final test to confirm the practicality of maglev. The 42.8 km line between Sakaigawa and Akiyama of Yamanashi Prefecture opened in 1996 and the first running test of the MLX01 was in April of 1997. (RTRI, On-line)

Germany was testing their Transrapid 07 maglev at the TVE (Transrapid Versuchsanlage im Emsland) test track between Nordschleife and SÑŒdschleife. Both test vehicles have traveled more than 400,000 km on the test track as of December 1996. The longest nonstop test has been 1,674 km in May of 1993. In June of the same year, the Transrapid 07 set a new maglev speed record of 450 km/hour. In 1991, Germany's government certified the operation of the first maglev train for the public. A maglev route was to be constructed between Hamburg and Berlin.

In the United States, scientists James R. Powell and Gordan T. Danby patented the first design for magnetic levitation trains in 1969. In 1970, the United States Federal Railroad Administration studied high-speed ground transportation. Little maglev research was accomplished in the United States and in 1986, the government stopped all funding toward maglev technology. Four years later, the United States Federal Government and the Federal Railroad Administration began to officially support maglev technology. (Lotti-Chun, On-line) They began the National Maglev Initiative in 1990, a cooperative effort of the U.S. Department of Transportation, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, and the U.S. Department of Energy. The purpose of the initiative was to evaluate possible improvements for intercity transportation with magnetic levitation. The tasks included "planning, analyzing, and assessing maglev technology" to make it a viable option for future transportation. The initiative should also determine the role that the Federal Government should have in the development of maglev systems. Significant effort has been devoted to the understanding of maglev's technical and market potential, however the key issue is whether such research and development warrants federal investment. The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 offered more support by recognizing the goals of future transportation systems. Section 1036 of the Act established a Maglev Prototype Development Program which specified the requirements for the design and construction of a U.S. maglev system. (University of Alabama in Huntsville, On-line)

The support and guidance systems of German magnetic levitation are based on the attractive powers between electromagnets on the vehicle and reaction plate rails on the underside of the guideway. (Lotti-Chun, On-line) The levitation and guidance magnets are controlled individually. An electronic control system keeps the vehicle levitating at a constant distance of 10 mm from its guideway. The propulsion and braking systems are based on a rotating electric motor with a split stationary core (stator). The vehicle is then propelled by the traveling magnetic field which is created with support magnets serving as the exciters. The energy flow is reversed to brake the vehicle without any contact to the guideway. This method of propulsion requires the motor to be installed on the guideway rather than on the vehicle. Unlike conventional transportation systems in which a vehicle has to carry the total power needed for the most demanding sections, the power of the maglev motor is dependent on the local conditions such as flat or uphill grades. The linear induction motor installed in the guideway is divided into sections. Power is only supplied to sections where a vehicle is currently located. This method conserves energy and prevents safety concerns because all vehicles in a section of track must be traveling at the same speed in the same direction. The power for the German Transrapid is supplied from Germany's 110 kV national grid system. Separate substations provide the power independently to each side of the guideway motor. The placement of these substations is dependent on local route conditions. The support and guidance systems and the onboard power is supplied via linear generators in the support magnets resulting in an entirely contactless technology. If the national grid power supply fails, onboard batteries which are powered during the journey will provide power to levitate the vehicle until it reaches the next terminal. If the next terminal is too far away, the vehicle is stopped at the next power station. Braking is supplied by the onboard batteries to slow the vehicle to 10 km/hour. The vehicle is then lowered onto skids and stops after a few meters. The skids are coated with a special material to create low friction while sliding on a steel surface. There is no reason to leave the vehicle for such a motor failure. The heat generated by the friction will melt a thin layer of ice when running in winter conditions. The materials used to construct maglev vehicles are non-combustible, poor transmitters of heat, and able to withstand fire penetration. In the unlikely event that a fire and power loss occurred simultaneously, the vehicle is automatically slowed down so that it stops at a predefined emergency power station. Research has shown that the German Transrapid is about 20 times safer than airplanes, 250 times safer than conventional railroads, and 700 times safer than automobile travel. Despite the speeds up to 500 km/hour, passengers can move about freely in the vehicles at all times. Maglev vehicles cannot be derailed because they surround the guideway. Collision is impossible because there will be no intersections and other transportation systems will cross at different levels. A collision between two maglev trains is nearly impossible because the linear induction motors prevent trains running in opposite directions or different