Do you think we will ever get Maglevs?
Discussion
SystemParanoia said:
Do you think we will EVER get maglev trains replacing all mainline conventional trains over here?
or even better, super sonic vaccume maglevs.
... atleast then the cost of tickets would be worth the price we have to pay for them
No, but we'll get loads of equally costly, but utterly pointless, crap. or even better, super sonic vaccume maglevs.
... atleast then the cost of tickets would be worth the price we have to pay for them
Like the Olympics for example.
The Problems with Track switching don't help MAGLEV trains the switching more expensive, slower and hungier on space than conventional trains. It takes 40 seconds to switch track on a MAGLEV while normal trains take 8. As a Point to point system it's brilliant. It's a case of the idea is brilliant but getting the execution right is a problem. Even the Shanghai system has raised as many questions as answers and the Chinese have decided to "evaluate" the system to see if it can be expanded and have decided to use conventional rail where a MAGLEV was supposed to be used.
Edited by telecat on Thursday 18th February 16:54
I don't think Maglev offers much of an advantage verses wheel on rails unless run in a tube at low pressure.
Conventional rail works/will work to around about 240mph, Maglev may be able to go slightly faster than that but not much faster without requiring a massive amount of energy. At those sort of speeds the drag from the air is the dominant factor so I would be surprised if a maglev uses that much less electricity.
Planes may go at 580mph but they do that at high altitude where the air is much thinner.
If you want to travel continental distances at very high speed a maglev in a low pressure tube may be an option but there are a few issues. The major one is cost both development and infrastructure.
I imagine that development costs of such a system would be huge and the issue would be that you would have to fund all these costs and prove the system before you would get any orders. To prove such a system worked you would need to build a tunnel hundreds of miles long just to get the train up to speed. In short no company and few governments could really take that much risk.
In Europe the distances are sufficiently short that a really fast maglev wouldn't give you that much advantage over conventional rail and against a plane the maglev would also loose out because it would probably need to stop along the way to operate.
In America the distances are great enough but your issue is that the cost per mile of a vac train maglev is going to be tens of millions per mile so crossing America is likely to work out as a $100billion+ project. Also having built such a line you then run into the issue that you will probably only make one or two of them going east west. Once you have crossed the US at 1500mph you will then have to make another journey up or down the coast to get to your destination. A plane can fly point to point because it doesn't need track.
In short if people were prepared to pay big bucks to go much quicker we would have fleets of Boeing 2707's...... we don't
Conventional rail works/will work to around about 240mph, Maglev may be able to go slightly faster than that but not much faster without requiring a massive amount of energy. At those sort of speeds the drag from the air is the dominant factor so I would be surprised if a maglev uses that much less electricity.
Planes may go at 580mph but they do that at high altitude where the air is much thinner.
If you want to travel continental distances at very high speed a maglev in a low pressure tube may be an option but there are a few issues. The major one is cost both development and infrastructure.
I imagine that development costs of such a system would be huge and the issue would be that you would have to fund all these costs and prove the system before you would get any orders. To prove such a system worked you would need to build a tunnel hundreds of miles long just to get the train up to speed. In short no company and few governments could really take that much risk.
In Europe the distances are sufficiently short that a really fast maglev wouldn't give you that much advantage over conventional rail and against a plane the maglev would also loose out because it would probably need to stop along the way to operate.
In America the distances are great enough but your issue is that the cost per mile of a vac train maglev is going to be tens of millions per mile so crossing America is likely to work out as a $100billion+ project. Also having built such a line you then run into the issue that you will probably only make one or two of them going east west. Once you have crossed the US at 1500mph you will then have to make another journey up or down the coast to get to your destination. A plane can fly point to point because it doesn't need track.
In short if people were prepared to pay big bucks to go much quicker we would have fleets of Boeing 2707's...... we don't
Maglevs seem to come from the school of the dribblingly insane. Absolutely massive amounts of energy are required to do the same job as one of our oldest and best inventions- the wheel. And the increase in potential speed is somewhere between unnecessary and not enough. What do they do in a power cut, anyway? Kill everyone on board, presumably.
It is rather like these idiotic, politically motivated schemes to bring back trams- no different to a bus, except when they cannot drive around an obstruction. Crazy.
It is rather like these idiotic, politically motivated schemes to bring back trams- no different to a bus, except when they cannot drive around an obstruction. Crazy.
The money would be far more effectively spent on a first rate conventional system and more international rail and freight terminals.
What's the point in 250mph if it has to stop for 15 minutes in Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow? The distances in the UK or even EU aren't great enough to be worthwhile.
I'm not even sure TGV speeds are that necessary. A cheap, clean, reliable and regular high speed service would more than satisfy most people.
Failing that how about a huge net in Hyde park with cannons dotted around the M25? You could human cannonball commuters the last 25 miles very quickly and efficiently. I'm sure it would be far more exciting than the underground what with all that fresh air.
What's the point in 250mph if it has to stop for 15 minutes in Birmingham, Manchester and Glasgow? The distances in the UK or even EU aren't great enough to be worthwhile.
I'm not even sure TGV speeds are that necessary. A cheap, clean, reliable and regular high speed service would more than satisfy most people.
Failing that how about a huge net in Hyde park with cannons dotted around the M25? You could human cannonball commuters the last 25 miles very quickly and efficiently. I'm sure it would be far more exciting than the underground what with all that fresh air.
grumbledoak said:
What do they do in a power cut, anyway? Kill everyone on board, presumably.
Depends on the type of Maglev, some maglevs generate their lift from forwards velocity in which case these would simply coast to a stop and then drop to the tracks. Ones that are held actively consume relatively little power to levitate, in these cases it would not be that difficult to coast to a stop on a set of batteries.Given that they generally fly at an altitude of 1 inch they could also just touch down on some skids and come to a halt in the worst case scenario.
Talksteer said:
Depends on the type of Maglev, some maglevs generate their lift from forwards velocity in which case these would simply coast to a stop and then drop to the tracks. Ones that are held actively consume relatively little power to levitate, in these cases it would not be that difficult to coast to a stop on a set of batteries.
So, one type isn't really magnetically levitated, and the other type drop onto the track and turn everyone into jam?grumbledoak said:
Talksteer said:
Depends on the type of Maglev, some maglevs generate their lift from forwards velocity in which case these would simply coast to a stop and then drop to the tracks. Ones that are held actively consume relatively little power to levitate, in these cases it would not be that difficult to coast to a stop on a set of batteries.
So, one type isn't really magnetically levitated, and the other type drop onto the track and turn everyone into jam?Inductrack uses an un-powered track where the forward motion of the train induces current in the magnets whcih levitate the train.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inductrack
The other systems use bugger all energy to levitate and as such the internal battery can support the train for 1 hour. However given that the track is straight and smooth and that the train can't leave the track the fact that the train can levitate without external power is probably mainly for asset protection as were the train to contact the track it would just slide to a halt damaging the track and underside of the train but not the passengers or the structure of the track.
The transrapide was not design by idiots nor would any regulator allow any train that had a single point of failure.
Edited by Talksteer on Friday 19th February 00:50
andy97 said:
Didn't "we" used to have a Maglev at Birmingham Airport. I hink it operated for about 10-15 years but was replaced some time back.
We had one out in the Fens back in the late 60s. Coincidentally today I was talking to one of the guys who helped install the power lines for it. Apparently it sparked like crazy.sherman said:
Possibly the finest Simpsons moment ever 
Junior Bianno said:
sherman said:
Possibly the finest Simpsons moment ever Olympics anybody?
The money would be far better spent making what we've got work properly.
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