Shortly after the turn of the century; the soft whoosh of air may be the only indicator of a train having zipped through the countryside at 300 miles per hour. No science fiction, magnetic levitation, or maglev, technology is looming large over the transportation horizon in several developed nations. Japan hopes to bring a 30-mile, $2 billion maglev line into full commercial operation between Tokyo and Osaka by 1997. Also by then, a maglev line should be making short time (6.5 minutes) of the 13.5 miles from Orlando to Walt Disney World; at $25 one way, you are welcome to ride.
Also within the next decade, Morrison-Knudsen, a private corporation, hopes to raise $7 billion in private financing to complete a maglev route between five Texas cities. Another proposal being floated by Carnegie Mellon University is seeking to build a maglev system between downtown Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh International Airport.
These, however, are only small pieces of the puzzle. Building a comprehensive maglev system will not be cheap. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) estimates that a 500-mile network could cost almost $18 billion for guideway construction, support structures, vehicles, and land. For a comprehensive system of 2,600 route-miles, the bill could well exceed $60 billion. A steep price tag, but well worth it according to maglev's many advocates.
Magnetic levitation technology is markedly different from that of other high-speed rail systems now in use in Japan, France, Germany, and some other nations. These "high-speed" trains are the same old trains that can now use more of their horsepower because the rail beds they are running on have been upgraded to withstand the high speeds. Magnetic levitation, however, is a whole different ball game: The vehicle travels, quite literally, on thin air. Suspended over fixed guideways, the train is held in place by invisible magnetic fields.
The advantages
Maglev's backers are positioning the technology as a viable alternative not so much to long jet flights of 500 miles or more, but to shorter flights of a few hundred miles between densely populated urban corridors.
As jet fuel prices have climbed, many carriers have discontinued services between close-by metropolitan areas and between key airports and smaller feeder markets with insufficient passenger demand to fill 150-seat jets. Commuter airlines--which usually fly propeller planes seating 10 to 35 passengers--usually serve these routes since they incur far less overhead. But these smaller planes usually cannot reach the 300 mph top speed of maglev trains.
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