At forum, Metro weighs whether it's on the right track

The Houston Chronicle ^ | Oct. 21, 2004 | LUCAS WALL

[Willie Green]

11 alternative transit systems presented at event

Imagine zipping to Bush Intercontinental Airport from downtown in less than 10 minutes.

Sound like fantasy? It isn't fantasy for travelers in Shanghai, China, who since April have been able to take a high-speed magnetic levitation train that carries them 19 miles to the airport there in eight minutes at up to 270 mph.

The developer of that system made his pitch in Houston on Wednesday during the opening of a three-day forum to examine present and future transit modes.

The Metropolitan Transit Authority is holding this week's Advanced Transportation Technology Forum at the behest of U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, a longtime rail opponent who has expressed skepticism at plans to construct another 65 miles of light rail in the next two decades.

[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

[Willie Green]

ping!

[sionnsar]

Meanwhile, in Seattle they're pushing a Loot Rail system that was sold to the voters as going from north of downtown all the way to the airport. What they're trying to build is an at-grade system that uses existing roadway (according to their brochure illustrations) that stops short of downtown Seattle on one end and a mile from the airport on the other -- and did we mention how the costs have ballooned...?

Crooks.

[bayourod]

We don't need no stinkin trains in Houston.

[Dog Gone]

It would be cool to have, especially if everyone but Houston paid for it. But most of the boardings at the airport aren't people who drive from downtown to the airport today.

This might provide transportation for maybe 35, oh heck, 100 people an hour. And the airport isn't even that far from downtown. I'm guessing 30 miles or less.

[Willie Green]

And the airport isn't even that far from downtown. I'm guessing 30 miles or less.

I guess that's why they say it'd take < 10 minutes.
Sure beats being stuck in traffic!

[Dog Gone]

But even the pro-maglev article you put on this thread puts 40 - 600 miles as the range where it might make sense.

Seriously, if you want to pitch the concept to Texans, propose a Dallas/Austin/San Antonio/Dallas circle (actually a triangle).

That's where the efficiency and speed over automobile and air would be obvious.