The lack of friction that is
inherent in the operation of a maglev train, plus its aerodynamic design, means
that such trains can travel in excess of 310 miles an hour, twice as fast as
the fastest conventional train and about two hundred fifty miles an hour slower
than a Boeing 777. That means a trip between Boston to Washington would take about an hour and a half. A trip between Houston
and Chicago would take just over three hours. Los Angeles to San Francisco would take
less than an hour and a half.
More important, a maglev train would
travel from train station to train station in the centers of two cities,
cutting out trip times between air ports and cities. One would arrive at ones
actual destination—a hotel or an office—far quicker than if one were traveling
by plane. And one can travel in relative comfort and not packed in like cargo. Unlike
conventional trains, a maglev train would run on electricity and not on fossil
fuels. Power could be supplied by a variety of sources. Operating costs would
be lower than with airlines, three cents per passenger mile vrs seven cents per
passenger mile. There is also far less likelihood of derailment than with
conventional trains.
Maglev Trains in Development
Currently, maglev trains are more
popular in and Japan than in the United States. The German company Transrapid is developing a version of
the maglev train in which the underside of the train wraps around the guideway.
The Japanese have a competing version of the maglev train that causes the train
to hover over the guideway. The Japanese system uses super cooled
superconducting magnets while the German system uses more conventional magnets.
The Japanese train runs on rubber tires until it achieves a “takeoff speed” of
about 62 miles and hour.
Maglev Trains in Service
The first commercial maglev train
began its service in Shanghai, China in 2004 and is the first operational maglev line. The train,
developed by Germany’s Transrapid Company, runs nineteen miles between a station
in the city center and Pudong Airport for a trip of less than ten minutes, as opposed to an hours
drive by taxi.