Faster Than a Speeding Bullet Train

The Washington Post ^ | Monday, May 17, 2004 | Edward Cody

[Willie Green]

Cutting-Edge Maglev Rail Line Boosts Pride in Shanghai, but Ridership Lags

SHANGHAI -- Smoothly, quietly, but relentlessly, the sleek new train picked up speed.

Reaching 100 mph, it seemed similar to the fast trains of Europe and Japan. But by 200 mph, Shanghai's passing suburbs started to blur in the window. And at 287 mph, the top speed, passengers could clearly feel that their ride to the airport had become a streak into railroad history.

"It's great," said Andrew Suan, 35, an investment adviser on his way to catch a flight for Hong Kong. "It's better than Disneyland."

Shanghai's new magnetic levitation train, or maglev, built by German engineers for $1.2 billion to cover 20 miles in less than eight minutes, has proved it can make an impression, even in a city that lives on superlatives. China's biggest, richest, most advanced, most with-it metropolis has scored again, becoming home to the fastest and most technologically innovative train in the world.

[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

[Uncle Miltie]

What is the capital cost per average daily rider (two ways)?

[texasflower]

Looks like fun.

[Blue Highway]

Better than Disney... Let's go!

[Poohbah]

Shanghai's new magnetic levitation train, or maglev, built by German engineers for $1.2 billion to cover 20 miles in less than eight minutes

SIXTY FRICKIN' MEGABUCKS A MILE?

[ImaGraftedBranch]

Until the Islamists think of how spectacular it would be to place a levitating bomb over the track. It is inevitable.

[RightWhale]

Can't read the article. How much did the train cost? What is the cost of operation and maintenance? How many riders will they have during the design lifetime?

[Willie Green]

What is the capital cost per average daily rider (two ways)?

I don't pay much attention to irrelevant statistics.
Fixed capital costs of construction should be amortized over the expected useful life of the investment. In this case, that'd be at least 20+ years.

Additionally, ridership figures for this initial segment should not be used to forecast future ridership. Although Maglev offers some local commuter advantages, it is not expected to compete with modes of local transportation. Ridership will increase significantly once this initial 20-mile segment is extended to offer trips in the 100~450 mile range.

[Willie Green]

SIXTY FRICKIN' MEGABUCKS A MILE?

There are less costly alternatives available that I know you would prefer:

South Africa turning donkeys into mass transit

Of course, you'd be traveling just a wee bit slower...

[Poohbah]

Fixed capital costs of construction should be amortized over the expected useful life of the investment. In this case, that'd be at least 20+ years.

Fine. Are they getting enough revenue to show an acceptable ROI?

Additionally, ridership figures for this initial segment should not be used to forecast future ridership.

Damn straight!

Ridership usually DECLINES after the novelty wears off.

The San Diego Trolley is considered one of the best in the country--and it only earns 60% of its O&M costs...

[Willie Green]

Can't read the article. How much did the train cost?

$1.2 billion for 20 miles.
There's no info in the article for your other questions.

[RightWhale]

once this initial 20-mile segment is extended to offer trips in the 100~450 mile range

Got to wonder if there is a need for such intercity passenger travel. If they connect to Beijing, and Hong Kong or someplace in Guangzhou, which would be 700 mile legs through some interesting geography, they might have enough business to justify the project.

[Willie Green]

Fine. Are they getting enough revenue to show an acceptable ROI?

Probably not at this point in time.
High-speed maglev is not intended to be competitive as a local commuter system, and sufficient ridership should not be expected until the system is extended to provide service for longer distances.

Ridership usually DECLINES after the novelty wears off.

I've explained the conditions that would be required to increase future ridership.
So you can ignore intelligent discussion and rant all you want, no skin off my buns.

[Willie Green]

Got to wonder if there is a need for such intercity passenger travel.

It's basicly the same market that is serviced by inefficient, short-hop air travel. Plus it generates a little extra passenger convenience and ridership by offering some local commuting advantages. For distances greater than 450~500 miles, plane travel is likely to be preferable. Under 100 miles is more suited to cars, taxis, buses, etc.

[Clint Williams]

Shanghai's new magnetic levitation train, or maglev, built by German engineers for $1.2 billion to cover 20 miles in less than eight minutes

Contrast this with Seattle's light rail project:

The Seattle starter project has been reshaped into a 14-mile south Rainier Valley project at a cost of $2.1 billion, or about $150 million/mile.

Shanghai: $1.2 billion, 20 miles, 8 minutes, maglev
Seattle: $2.1 billion, 14 miles, (very slow), light rail

[Clemenza]

Planners must build where people live. The big mistake Miami Metrorail made was in building stations far from the main residential/commercial corridors (outside of downtown, which has lost business for the past 25 years to Coral Gables) and in not providing express service.

[RightWhale]

The attraction of the train is that it can let passengers off in the middle of town. If the city can move passengers from outlying communities to and from the station conveniently, it will get riders, although if it goes just to the airport it would be self-limiting. Perhaps a line to Wuhan would be worth the expense, but only if both Wuhan and Shanghai have convenient local transportation.

[Action-America]

SIXTY FRICKIN' MEGABUCKS A MILE?

Yes. But the cost is all up front.

Since there are no moving parts (engines, motors, transmissions, axles, wheels, etc.) the only maintenance to the cars is done by janitors, after every few runs and there is almost no maintenance to the track. Conventional trains have to undergo regular maintenance on a rather large scale. Replacing wheel bearings on a 80,000 to 150,000 pound train isn't like taking your car down to NTB and that's the easy stuff. Engines, huge electric motors and transmissions on conventional trains are extremely expensive to maintain and repair.

All of that ongoing maintenance is gone, with MagLev. The only significant ongoing cost, with MagLev, is the cost of electricity (equate that to diesel for heavy rail or electricity for light rail) that it takes to run it and the salary of the drivers and ticket takers. There isn't even anything left to lubricate, unless you include the sliding doors.

The major cost is all capital. By eliminating the huge ongoing maintenance costs of other modes of transportation, the MagLev becomes very cost-effective, over the long haul. There has never been an accident, involving a MagLev and indeed, the way that it is designed, it would be virtually impossible for it to have an accident, which is much more than can be said for light rail. In Houston, our light rail, affectionately dubbed, the "Wham-Bam-Tram", has had 40 crashes since January 1 of this year. In fact, the Wham-Bam-Tram had 5 crashes while it was still being tested.

I'm certainly not a proponent of mass transportation, as can be seen from the Wham-Bam-Tram Ram Counter that I maintain. But, if we are going to have it forced down our throats, this would be the way to go. At an average rate of 3.8 days between Wham-Bam-Tram crashes, which if that rate continues, will lead to 95 crashes this year, Houston has certainly proved that light rail is a joke. At least MagLev offers unmatched safety and speed.

 

[ikka]

Rather than pushing for debt-loaded, pork-laden megaprojects, why are you not pushing for a reduction in the 1930s-era rules and laws that have been sucking the life out of the railroads?

Railroad de-regulation, not Big-Dig sized boondoggles, is the path to the eventual adoption of high-speed trains. The free market will always allocate capital in a more efficient fashion than a donut-chomping govt bureaucrat.

[sionnsar]

Shanghai: $1.2 billion, 20 miles, 8 minutes, maglev
Seattle: $2.1 billion, 14 miles, (very slow), light rail

You forgot:

Shanghai: dedicated grade-separated track...with small footprint
Seattle: interfering at-grade track, with huge footprint