Floating out of our traffic mess

Fort Worth Star Telegram ^ | Wed, Sep. 08, 2004 | Kevin C. Coates

[Willie Green]

During rush hour recently in Shanghai, China, I traveled 19 miles in 7½ minutes. I wasn't flying, exactly. I was aboard a high-speed magnetic-levitation transportation system.

Now I can't help but ponder more efficient ways of moving people into, between, within and around our cities -- especially when I'm stuck in traffic.

Let's face it: American transportation problems result from our love of private automobile ownership and the government policies that enable our oil addiction. Driving cars in cities is like using a pair of pliers to bang a nail into a wall -- the wrong tool for the job. It is analogous to entering the lobby of a high-rise and waiting for an elevator that only one person at a time can ride because everyone wants his or her private space.

Subways and light-rail systems, typical U.S. alternatives, are basically 19th-century technologies. As wheels meet tracks over years of use, these systems wear out. They are slow, bouncy, expensive to maintain and prone to frequent breakdowns. Mostly manually operated, they require high labor costs.

Maglevs float -- propelled and supported by electromagnetic waves. They're not free of maintenance, but logic dictates that by eliminating sources of friction from traditional propulsion and braking, much higher system reliability and fewer repairs will result.

[Willie Green]

.

Magnetic levitation (Maglev) is an advanced technology in which magnetic forces lift, propel, and guide a vehicle over a guideway. Utilizing state-of-the-art electric power and control systems, this configuration eliminates contact between vehicle and guideway and permits cruising speeds of up to 300 mph, or almost two times the speed of conventional high-speed rail service. Because of its high speed, Maglev offers competitive trip-time savings to auto and aviation modes in the 40- to 600-mile travel markets–an ideal travel option for the 21st century.

Both the Pennsylvania and Baltimore-Washington plans utilize maglev technology developed by Transrapid International. The German design is based on a conventional non-superconductingelectromagnetic/attractive magnetic configuration, and has received extensive testing at a full-scale test track in Emsland, Germany. The latest design represents over 20 years of design evolution and 15 years' testing of full-scale Transrapid prototypes, including safety certification by the German government for passenger-carrying revenue service at speeds of 250 mph or higher.

Highlights of the Transrapid system are:

• High cruising speeds of 200 to 300 mph (320 kph to 480 kph)
  

• Fast acceleration and braking with outstanding passenger comfort
  

• Can climb 10% grades at full speed
  

• Safe operation on dedicated grade-separated track, or guideway
  

• Vehicle wraps around guideway to reduce risk of derailment
  

• Low electromagnetic field emission and interference potential
  

• Standard superelevation, or tilt, of 12 degrees (max. up to 16 degrees) to navigate curves
  

• Proven and tested automatic operations control system
  

• Minimal guideway maintenance with small footprint
  

• High system capacity
  

• Guideway energized sequentially for dynamic vehicle "block" control and reduced power demand
  

• Improved aerodynamic vehicle design for minimal turbulence
  

• Multiple levels of redundancy built in for safe operations at all speeds
  

• Final safety approval anticipated in Germany for commercial operations
  

• Prior evaluation and safety analysis by the US Department of
  Transportation accepted Transrapid for deployment in Orlando, Florida in 1992

The Transrapid is suitable for transporting goods as well. For high-speed cargo transport, special cargo sections can be combined with passenger sections or assembled to form dedicated cargo trains (payload up to 18 tons per section). As the propulsion system is in the guideway, neither the length of the vehicle nor the payload affect the acceleration power.

If you would like more information about Maglev, visit the Transrapid International website or Maglev of Pennsylvania or the Baltimore-Washington Maglev Project

[RockinRight]

Screw mass transit. I love my car. I don't want to have to rely on a government-subsidized train that works on its schedule, not mine, to get where I want to go.

[Jaysun]

This guy is just a public transportation salesman. No thanks.

[Hank Rearden]

I'm sure the Mohammadens are already working on ways to derail this.

Oxcarts are Allah's (pee be upon him) law.

[wesdale]

Would be a good idea if there was actually public demand for them. But then, if there already was enough demand, these things would be in more cities.

As it is now, these toy trains are giant boondoggles for the taxpayer and a convenient way for politicians to give their friends big government contracts. In the cities that they already exist, they do not make a profit and require huge tax payer funded subsidies.

[JRandomFreeper]

This guy is just a public transportation salesman

Didn't Springfield suffer from one of those guys? Wasn't Homer nearly killed? Can't we learn from the Simpsons?

Sorry, I couldn't restrain myself. ;>)

/john

[discostu]

How much longer would the trip take if he had a transfer? Could he even stop off on the way and pick up some groceries? Would the ie cream still be frozen on the other side?

Mass transit works great in socialist countries or over crowded cities. In most America it just isn't feasable or desirable, and being high tech maglev doesn't make it any better than low tech trolleys or busses. Where people have freedom and elbow room privately owned vehicles are the transportation solution of the future.

[Lunatic Fringe]

Which is prcisely its purpose, for use in cities.

If Dallas had a rail system that I could use just to get to work and back, I'd use it. Unfortunately it is not scheduled for my area until 2007.

[Paradox]

I use the local rail system to travel some 30 miles to and from work each day. Although it saves me little time, I enjoy not having to deal with the rush hour traffic. Gives me some time to catch up on reading.

[knarf]

[discostu]

Not just any city, it's gotta be a tightly packed city. If it's a typical Western city that's spread out far and wide covering it with a mass transit grid that's actually usable is too expensive. I can get pretty much anywhere in Tucson faster by walking than by bus, and even by bus unless I've got major attractions (malls, downtown) on both ends there's probably going to be at least a mile's walk anyway. Adding rail to the system wouldn't improve it much if at all. Not sure how Dallas is laid out but being in Texas I'm betting it's a typical Western city that has too many "major" streets covering too much territory. Mass transit is great in someplace like New York of Chicago, in someplace like Phoenix or LA forget about it.

[Prime Choice]

During rush hour recently in Shanghai, China, I traveled 19 miles in 7½ minutes.

Whoop-de-frickin'-doo. I seem to recall the Nazis made the trains run on time, too.

[discostu]

Not enough storage space, and I bet the sound system sucks ;)

[CIB-173RDABN]

There used to be things called Jittnys (sp) a cross between a bus and a taxi. They would make a standard route pick you up on the main drag but would drive you to your home, stopping along the way to pick up and drop off.

These were private individuals and were simply regulated out of buisness.

Government wants mass transit, then take the next step and unregulate taxi service. Let the market place fill the need to get people from the train depot to their place of business or home.

It is not that people do not want to take mass transit it is that mass transit does not take them where they want to go.

[Blzbba]

"Didn't Springfield suffer from one of those guys? Wasn't Homer nearly killed? Can't we learn from the Simpsons? "


Monorail!!!!!!!!!!!

Monorail!!!!!!!!!!!!!


MONORAAIIIILLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



I thought the same thing, btw!

[Willie Green]

How much longer would the trip take if he had a transfer?

An average stop takes about 2 minutes.
However, Maglev is not intended to be a system for local commuters.
Minimum distance between stations in urban areas is about 10 miles to allow it to utilize it's speed.
In outlying areas, stations could be anywhere from 30~50 miles apart.
Still, in large metro areas, it'd be a fast way to commute from center city to the outlying suburbs or airport.
Heck, at that speed, you could even easily commute daily from a smaller community 150~250 miles away.

Could he even stop off on the way and pick up some groceries? Would the ie cream still be frozen on the other side?

Sure. Why not?

[Blzbba]

[Lyle Lanley] Well sir, there's nothin' on earth like a genuine, bonafide, electrified, six-car monorail!
What'd I say?
[Ned Flanders] Monorail!
[Lyle] What's it called?
[Patty & Selma] Monorail
[Lyle] That's right, monorail!
[All chant] Monorail, monorail, monorail...
[Ms Hoover] I hear those things are awfully loud
[Lyle] It glides as softly as a cloud
[Apu] Is there a chance the track could bend?
[Lyle] Not on your life, my Hindu friend
[Barney] What about us braindead slobs?
[Lyle] You'll be given cushy jobs
[Grampa] Were you sent here by the devil?
[Lyle] No, good sir, I'm on the level
[Chief Wiggum] The ring came off my pudding can
[Lyle] Take my pen knife, my good man
I swear it's Springfield's only choice
Throw up your hands and raise your voice!
Monorail!
What's it called?
Monorail!
Once again!
Monorail!
[Marge] But Main Street's still all cracked and broken
[Bart] Sorry, mom, the mob has spoken
[All] Monorail! Monorail!
Monorail!
Monorail!
[Homer] Mono- d'oh!

[ClearCase_guy]

And the best thing is, it's free!

isn't it?

[southernnorthcarolina]

It's a time-honored strategy for train proponents to tell residents of City A that they need rail transit in order to be a "real city," just like City B. That's essentially how the taxpayers of my hometown of Charlotte, a wanna-be "World Class City" if there ever was one, got duped into approving light rail. Well, Atlanta has a train, don't they? Therefore, we have to have one too. (MARTA, by the way, has really improved Atlanta's traffic, hasn't it? Oh, wait...)

But using Shanghai as the model takes the "logic" to a whole new level. Let's see... 14 million people in metro Shanghai... few with even access to a car, much less owning one... a totalitarian government which can spend transit money without voter approval and which can force or eliminate residential, business, and government development in any areas it sees fit... Yeah, the perfect model.

Rail transit -- taking people from where they ain't to where they don't wanna go for almost two centuries.

[Willie Green]

That's essentially how the taxpayers of my hometown of Charlotte, a wanna-be "World Class City" if there ever was one,

Your hometown has a very high national ranking:

Charlotte ranks 19th in traffic congestion