Maglev could be the answer

Vail Daily ^ | November 4, 2005 | Alex Miller

[Willie Green]

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.

Trains could ascend and descend at much higher speeds

One of the big questions concerning rail in the mountains has to do with how to handle the steep grades. The legendary narrow-gauge trains that made their way over Colorado's passes in the 19th and 20th centuries did it by going very slow up and very slow down.

But if people are going to be convinced to leave their cars at home and take a train to the ski area, creeping down the hill to Silverthorne or Vail at 10, 20 or even 30 mph isn't going to be much of an incentive.

Add more speed and you bump into an inconvenient fact: No one has yet devised an adequate braking system for a steel-wheel train moving at higher speeds. In other words, if it starts to run away, it will continue to do so until it crashes.

But what about maglev? Short for "magnetic levitation," maglev trains don't run on rails with steel wheels but, rather, over a guideway using super-powerful electromagnets. One set of magnets keeps the train levitating over the guideway at a set distance (about 10 millimeters). Another set of magnets keeps the train aligned laterally, while a linear motor in the guideway pulls the train along Ð also with a magnetic field.

Joe Vranich, a passenger rail expert, said maglev could efficiently solve the problem of steep grades.

"It beats steel wheels in mountainous territory," he said. "It can climb grades and go down grades and control speed much more efficiently."

It might also be more economical in the long run, he said. That's because a maglev's superior climbing power can decrease the need for tunnels or expensive land buys to create hill-taming switchbacks. An elevated guideway can also be installed in less space, such as the median between lanes of I-70.

Maglev has recently moved out of the realm of sci-fi or test tracks. The first commercial maglev rail line opened in January, 2004 in Shanghai, China. Built by the German company Transrapid International, the 19-mile track connects a station in Shanghai to the airport in Pudong with trains that travel at 267 mph. At that speed, the 150 miles from the Denver airport to Eagle could be covered in under an hour.

While the technology isn't being seriously considered in Colorado, it is being looked at in other states. A maglev track between Las Vegas and Anaheim, Calif. is being studied, as is a line between Baltimore and Washington, D.C. and another between Atlanta and Chattanooga, Tenn.

Bob Briggs with the Front Range Commuter Rail project said maglev could be something to look at in the future, but the focus now is on things that run on existing rails.

"It's rapidly developing," Briggs said of maglev technology. "Who knows how soon it will be available and operational."

[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

[Yo-Yo]

Monorail! Monorail! Monorail! Monorail!

[glorgau]

One set of magnets keeps the train levitating over the guideway at a set distance (about 10 millimeters)

I hear they often get more than 10 millimeters of snow in the Colorado mountains.

[sittnick]

I'm not anti-train, but I can think of better things to subsidize than easy transportation for ski-junkies. Trains have to go where and how they'' make sense.

When I ran for state rep. in CT in '96, a metro-north employee asked if I would save the New Haven to New London route. I told him that due to extremely low ridership that I could not support that, but that I would be happy to give him a job riding them over in the taxi.

If Amtrak wants to increase ridership, they should increase the number of smoker cars (fyi: I am a non-smoker) and chase that market. They should not be competing with airlines, but with long car rides.

[jeremiah]

Blaine the train can be a pain.

[Clock King]

Glad to see someone else with some common sense. You're dead on about rail. It has to go where it makes sense and there is enough ridership to keep it afloat. Otherwise, it's just wasting money.

[Willie Green]

This thread is a good place to post a couple more regionally related news blurbs I just came across.

Indicted Libby knows how to turn 'em

By ALLEN BEST
special to the Summit Daily News
November 5, 2005

VAIL - It turns out that the whole Judith Miller-Valerie Plame-Scooter Libby story has a ski town connection. Libby, the recently indicted former chief of staff for Vice President Dick Cheney, spent a portion of one summer in the early 1980s in Breckenridge, where he began his novel, "The Apprentice," a thriller published in 2002.

But Libby is also a skier, and a good one, says his friend Jackson Hogen, a college roommate at Yale and former ski columnist. "He's not Bode Miller, but he's not the guy in blue jeans saying, 'I heard y'all rent skis here," Hogen told the Vail Daily. "He's an expert skier, not at all risk-averse."

Hogen said Libby had skied Vail and Beaver Creek several times and, of course, at Jackson Hole, where Cheney has a home.

Funicular making debut on the slopes of Telluride

TELLURIDE - A funicular, based on old, old technology, is being applied in a relatively new setting - the slopes of Telluride. There, the finishing touches are being put on the rail-based system that will allow skiers to get back to Bear Creek Lodge without walking.

Funiculars are sometimes also called cogged railways. Among the best-known in the West is found at Colorado's Royal Gorge and Pikes Peak, although others are found in Los Angeles and elsewhere. They are relatively common in the Swiss Alps.

The cars operate on the principle of the pulley sort of, with the weight of one car on the uphill track drawing against the weight of the car on the downhill track, and vice versa. Think of it as an elevator laid sideways on a hill. Beaver Creek about a decade ago considered a funicular to ferry people the two miles from Avon, in the valley bottom to the base village. Vail Resorts eventually opted for a gondola.

[YouPosting2Me]

"Maglev could be the answer"

The Question: "What's the fastest way to blow through tons of dollars without ever delivering on a solution?"


(runner up - The Big Dig)

[Willie Green]

I hear they often get more than 10 millimeters of snow in the Colorado mountains.

No problemo.
Maglev operates on an elevated guideway which could be constructed well above expected levels of Colorado drifting snow. At that height, the wind (either natural or from passing maglevs) could be expected to simply blow away anything that might try to accumulate between the guideway and the maglev vehicles.

Added benefit: maglev's quiet operation minimizes risk of triggering avalanches.

[mountainlyons]

I can see it now. 300 mile per hour trains flying off into the woods. I guess that they forgot that the mountain rails do not go in a straight line. The hidden costs are new right of ways. Massive earth moving to get grades down to 10% and take out the curves. Like the astronomer said "Billions and Billions" dollars that is.

[Old Professer]

Power interruption...

[ikka]

I am all for it as long as it is built with private money.

[YouPosting2Me]

"I can see it now. 300 mile per hour trains flying off into the woods."

"Sunny Bono Express"

[Enchante]

We're talking snowdrifts of 20-40 feet in many mountain passes - would Maglev be built above all of that??? Also, I have to wonder (as a Rocky Mtn. dweller and frequent skier, etc.) how on earth a Maglev route could be kept entirely free of all sorts of rockfall, wind-drift wood and snow, etc. I-80 does go between Denver and Vail, so it's certainly possible to do some things through those mountains, but I-80 does go through a huge tunnel and if the Maglev is supposed to avoid that I don't know what the other options are in terms of terrain, etc.

[dearolddad]

Glad to see someone else with some common sense. You're dead on about rail. It has to go where it makes sense and there is enough ridership to keep it afloat. Otherwise, it's just wasting money

It should read sticking it to the tax payer for life.

[Willie Green]

Funiculars are sometimes also called cogged railways....
The cars operate on the principle of the pulley sort of, with the weight of one car on the uphill track drawing against the weight of the car on the downhill track, and vice versa. Think of it as an elevator laid sideways on a hill.

No, no, no, no, NO....

Sheeeeesh... the reporter sure didn't do his/her homework on this one...

Conventional rail (railroads, light-rail, trolleys, streetcars, etc.) can't operate on very steep grades. Although there are examples where they have been built at a 3% grade, the vast majority never go beyond 1~1½%.

To handle steeper grades, there have been traditionally several different approaches:

• Cog railways use a pinion gear that mechanicly engages a "toothed" track to prevent the train from slipping downhill.
• Cable cars, like those in San Francisco, clamp onto a moving cable that's in a trench under the street. The cable pulls 'em uphill, and they simply loosen the clamp whenever they want to slow down or stop.
• Funiculars are more like elevators, with two vehicles attached to the ends of a long cable. As one vehicle is pulled uphill, the other travels downhill. The first vehicle arrives at the top at the same time the other arrives at the bottom. When passengers are done getting on and off, they change direction. The first one goes back up the hill while the other one comes back down.

[Willie Green]

We're talking snowdrifts of 20-40 feet in many mountain passes - would Maglev be built above all of that???

No reason why it couldn't be built 50~100' high if you wanted to.
You can even build it at different heights, going higher in only those areas that are more prone to drifting. Think of it as a "gentle" roller coaster. Maybe 20' is the "normal" height, but you could quick whoosh up to 60' for a while, then maybe drop down to 30' or 25'. Whatever is necessary.

but I-80 does go through a huge tunnel and if the Maglev is supposed to avoid that I don't know what the other options are in terms of terrain, etc.

If I recall correctly, I-80 basicly follows the route of an older highway, but the tunnel was constructed to bypass the mountain pass where the older route went. No reason why maglev could'nt diverge and take the previous route, up and over the mountain, and rejoin I-80 on the other side.

[Willie Green]

Massive earth moving to get grades down to 10%

No, no, no.
You only have to grade if you're building on the ground, like conventional roads or railbeds.
For example, if you're traveling along "flat" land, and come up to a steep 15~20% grade hill, you're gonna have to do some earth moving to smooth out the climb.
But since maglev is built on an overhead guideway, all you have to do is start your 10% climb somewhere BEFORE you get to the hill. That way, the climb is "smoothed" without having to haul away dirt and rock.

[Redcloak]

"Uses electricity to launch tax money like crap through a goose or Bourbon through Ed."

[WmCraven_Wk]

"No reason why maglev could'nt diverge and take the previous route, up and over the mountain, and rejoin I-80 on the other side."

I have driven the road you are referring to here. While CO Rt6 over Loveland Pass is beautiful, scenic, and, at times, thrilling, I certainly would not consider going over it at 250-300MPH without being airborne, preferably at an altitude of over 20,000 feet.