On This Day: Maglev sets speed record, remains only hi-speed in service today - Nov. 12, 2003
Last edited Sat Nov 18, 2023, 09:22 AM - Edit history (1)
(edited from Wikipedia)
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Shanghai maglev train
The Shanghai maglev train is a magnetic levitation train (maglev) line that operates in Shanghai, China. The line uses the German Transrapid technology. The Shanghai maglev is the world's first [and only] commercial high-speed maglev and has a maximum cruising speed of 268 mph, making it the fastest train service in commercial operation.
The train line connects Shanghai Pudong International Airport and Longyang Road in the outskirts of central Pudong, where passengers can interchange to the Shanghai Metro to continue their trip to the city center.
At full speed, the journey takes 7 minutes and 20 seconds to complete the distance of 18.6 mi, although some trains in the early morning and late afternoon take about 50 seconds longer. A train can reach 186 mph in 2 minutes and 15 seconds, with the maximum normal operation speed of 268 mph reached after 4 minutes.
Pricing
A one-way ticket costs US $8, or $6.40 for those passengers holding a receipt or proof of an airline ticket purchase. A round-trip return ticket costs $12.80. The price has not changed since the Maglev began operation.
History[, and speed record]
Construction of the line began on March 1, 2001, and public commercial service commenced on 1 January 2004. The Shanghai Transrapid project took $1.33bn and two and a half years to complete. The line is 18.95 mi track and has a further separate track leading to a maintenance facility.
The top operational commercial speed of this train is 268 mph, making it the world's fastest train in regular commercial service since its opening in April 2004. During a non-commercial test run on 12 November 2003, a maglev train achieved a Chinese record speed of 311 mph.
[Maglev technology]
Maglev (derived from magnetic levitation) is a system of train transportation that uses two sets of electromagnets: one set to repel and push the train up off the track, and another set to move the elevated train ahead, taking advantage of the lack of friction. Such trains rise approximately 10 centimetres (4 in) off the track. There are both high-speed, intercity maglev systems (over 250 miles per hour), and low-speed, urban maglev systems (50–124 miles per hour) under development and being built. The Shanghai maglev train is the only maglev train in commercial operation that can be considered as high speed.
With maglev technology, the train travels along a guideway of electromagnets which control the train's stability and speed. While the propulsion and levitation require no moving parts, the bogies can move in relation to the main body of the vehicle, and some technologies require support by retractable wheels at low speeds under 93 mph. This compares with electric multiple units that may have several dozen parts per bogie. Maglev trains can therefore in some cases be quieter and smoother than conventional trains and have the potential for much higher speeds.
Maglev vehicles have set several speed records, and maglev trains can accelerate and decelerate much faster than conventional trains; the only practical limitation is the safety and comfort of the passengers, although wind resistance at very high speeds can cause running costs that are four to five times that of conventional high-speed rail. The power needed for levitation is typically not a large percentage of the overall energy consumption of a high-speed maglev system. Overcoming drag, which makes all open-air land transport more energy intensive at higher speeds, takes the most energy. Maglev systems have been much more expensive to construct than conventional train systems, although the simpler construction of maglev vehicles makes them cheaper to manufacture and maintain.
[Operational status]
Despite over a century of research and development, there are only six operational maglev trains today — three in China, two in South Korea, and one in Japan. Maglev can be hard to economically justify for certain locations.
Proposed maglev systems [in the United States]
The Northeast Maglev would ultimately connect major Northeast metropolitan hubs and airports traveling more than 480 kilometers per hour (300 miles per hour), with a goal of one-hour service between Washington, D.C. and New York City.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_maglev_train#
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maglev
(edited from article)
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High-speed rail trains are stalled in the US—and that might not change for a while:
The US has more miles of railroad tracks than anywhere in the world, but establishing high-speed trains has been slow going.
PUBLISHED OCT 5, 2022
Where HSR [high-speed rail] trains rarely travel faster than 220 mph, magnetic levitation, or maglev, has potential to achieve travel speeds greater than 300 mph, while being quieter and more energy efficient than HSR. Maglev trains run on concrete guideways lined with electromagnets that repel the magnetized cars, elevating them millimeters to inches above the track. The motor is not in the train, but on the guideway, using alternating magnetic poles like a conveyor belt to propel the train forward and slow it down. Because maglev trains require entirely new guideways, cars, and power specifications, they must be built from scratch. Despite their decades-long allure, implementation costs can be prohibitive relative to HSR. Today there are only six operational maglev trains—three in China, two in South Korea, and one in Japan. Only one qualifies as high speed, China’s Shanghai maglev, which runs for 18.6 miles from a subway station to the airport, and reaches 268 mph during the 7-minute trip.
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https://www.popsci.com/technology/high-speed-trains-hyperloop-history/
(from current website)
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[Baltimore-Washington maglev paused]
The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is pausing the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the Baltimore-Washington Superconducting Magnetic Levitation (SCMAGLEV) Project on the Permitting Dashboard to review project elements and determine the next steps.
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https://www.bwmaglev.info/index.php
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