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South Korean Magnetic levitation train to debut
Korea Times ^ | Monday, May 03, 2010 | Lee Hyo-sik

Posted on 05/04/2010 10:51:02 AM PDT by Willie Green

Korea will operate unmanned magnetic levitation trains in Incheon International Airport from 2013, becoming the latest country after Japan to commercialize the next generation transportation system.

The Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs said Monday that it will finish constructing a 6.1 kilometer railway by 2012 within the country's main airport and begin running unmanned magnetic levitation trains that will travel at 110 kilometers per hour. The ministry also unveiled a prototype of the train.

As one of Korea's state-funded research and development (R&D) projects, the government decided in 2006 to invest 450 billion won ($400 million) into developing the magnetic trains and railway tracks by 2012. Countries like Japan and Germany have been active in maglev research as an alternative to today's wheeled mass transit systems.

All the technologies have been developed by local entities, including the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials and Rotem. The institute and Rotem, a local subway train producer, have been jointly developing Korea's next generation mass transport system.

Maglev trains, which are suspended in the air above specially designed tracks, are propelled by a linear motor that uses the repulsive and attractive forces of magnetism.

Because there is no physical contact between the vehicle and the track, the maglev system has many advantages ― it can travel at very high speeds with reasonable energy consumption and at low noise levels.

The futuristic transportation system had its debut in the early 1980s, but economic limitations have pose stumbling blocks to its full-fledged commercialization.

``We will continue to work hard to successfully introduce the maglev system over the next two years and launch a trial service in 2013 at Incheon International Airport. If the operation proves to be successful, many municipal administrations will rush to bring in this transport system to improve their mass transit,'' a ministry official said.

He also said the ministry will seek to cut the costs of building the maglev train tracks to as low as 40 billion won per kilometer. ``If so, the transport scheme will be economically feasible. We will then try to export our maglev trains and related technologies to other countries.''


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Foreign Affairs
KEYWORDS: boxcarwillie; choochoocharlie; maglev; seoultrain
Hmmmmmm...
Kudos to South Korea...
This isn't one of the glamorous high-speed bullet maglevs.
But this shows how maglev can be used for slower, local shuttles and commuters as well!!!
1 posted on 05/04/2010 10:51:02 AM PDT by Willie Green
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To: Willie Green; Slings and Arrows
???
2 posted on 05/04/2010 10:54:23 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (The hysteria of Matthewsism and Andersonism has led to a Tea Party Scare that is unAmerican.)
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To: Willie Green; Revolting cat!

SEOUL TRAIN BUMP

3 posted on 05/04/2010 10:55:53 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (The hysteria of Matthewsism and Andersonism has led to a Tea Party Scare that is unAmerican.)
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To: Willie Green
Theme song for the S Korean train - 13th Floor Elevators - Levitation
4 posted on 05/04/2010 10:55:59 AM PDT by Ready4Freddy ("It's not the number of burnt cars that worries me. It's the fact that everyone finds this normal..")
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To: Willie Green

Hope it works as well as the 2000 Hyundai Elantra. I beat that puppy into the ground!


5 posted on 05/04/2010 10:57:08 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Willie Green

Did your parents deprive you of a Lionel train set as a kid?


6 posted on 05/04/2010 10:58:03 AM PDT by pissant (THE Conservative party: www.falconparty.com)
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To: Willie Green

don’t they mean “driverless” rather than “unmanned”? not a lot of sense sending an empty train anywhere...


7 posted on 05/04/2010 11:00:15 AM PDT by camle (keep an open mind and someone will fill it full of something for you)
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To: camle
don’t they mean “driverless” rather than “unmanned”? not a lot of sense sending an empty train anywhere...

I'm sure that's probably what they mean.
Since this has it's own dedicated track, with no interference with other vehicles, it would be pretty easy to design fully-automated without any driver necessary.

8 posted on 05/04/2010 11:07:05 AM PDT by Willie Green ("You can observe a lot just by watching.")
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To: Willie Green

they can keep the train and the endless debt that goes with it, I’ll keep my car and deal with occasional traffic jams.

Japan’s national railroad is still paying off the first generation of bullet trains,


9 posted on 05/04/2010 11:08:43 AM PDT by mtnjimmi (God is dead Niche, Niche is dead God)
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To: Willie Green

I was just through the Toronto airport twice in the last week. They put in an elevated shuttle train to join terminals 1 and 3 and a station that links to mass transit. Looks cool, like a monorail, but it is moved by a cable, and it bumps along on rubber wheels on two “rails” and has a ride quality that I would consider disappointing on a city bus. Definitely not as high tech as it looks, although probably a cost-effective solution.


10 posted on 05/04/2010 11:10:07 AM PDT by -YYZ- (Strong like bull, smart like ox.)
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To: Willie Green

Well, I won’t be in Korea anytime soon, so don’t let me ruin it for anybody;-)

enjoy!


11 posted on 05/04/2010 11:11:21 AM PDT by camle (keep an open mind and someone will fill it full of something for you)
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To: camle
don’t they mean “driverless” rather than “unmanned”? not a lot of sense sending an empty train anywhere...

We call it 'AmTrak'

12 posted on 05/04/2010 11:12:08 AM PDT by whd23
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To: whd23

LOL~! remember the jingle:
“see the country!
travel AmTrak
easy come and easy go...”

I forget ther rest.


13 posted on 05/04/2010 11:14:40 AM PDT by camle (keep an open mind and someone will fill it full of something for you)
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To: camle

bttt


14 posted on 05/04/2010 11:16:19 AM PDT by ConservativeMan55
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To: pissant

15 posted on 05/04/2010 11:18:17 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (The hysteria of Matthewsism and Andersonism has led to a Tea Party Scare that is unAmerican.)
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To: -YYZ-
has a ride quality that I would consider disappointing on a city bus.
Sounds like the Canadian health care system as well.



16 posted on 05/04/2010 11:34:21 AM PDT by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: -YYZ-
I was just through the Toronto airport twice in the last week. They put in an elevated shuttle train to join terminals 1 and 3 and a station that links to mass transit. Looks cool, like a monorail, but it is moved by a cable, and it bumps along on rubber wheels on two “rails” and has a ride quality that I would consider disappointing on a city bus. Definitely not as high tech as it looks, although probably a cost-effective solution.

Hmmmm... that's interesting!
I just post an article about some guy who's running for mayor of Toronto: Rossi promises subways, not streetcars, for Toronto

Naturally my first reaction was, like on this thread, that while a subway is better than streetcars, an overhead monorail would be cheaper.
But then, perhaps with Toronto's nasty winter weather, going underground would be best.
Now I'm beginning to wonder how a subway might tie-in to the elevated shuttle that you say they have.

17 posted on 05/04/2010 11:52:40 AM PDT by Willie Green ("You can observe a lot just by watching.")
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To: Willie Green

Well, it’s not really a monorail, since it runs on two of them, with rubber wheels on the top and sides. It’s a lightweight low-speed solutions, and adequate for the task - it just has a rather unrefined ride.

I’m not sure, but I’m guessing maybe, if they ever get around to doing it, that subway trains (which already run above ground on part of their routes) might meet the airport “monorail” at Viscount station, which is at one terminus of the airport shuttle.


18 posted on 05/04/2010 12:02:53 PM PDT by -YYZ- (Strong like bull, smart like ox.)
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To: pissant
Did your parents deprive you of a Lionel train set as a kid?

LOL! No... Santa brought me one of them when I was only 3½ years old...
Of course, Dad had to help me play with it...
I was allowed to push the little red button on the transformer that made the train whistle go woo-woooooo....
but I couldn't touch the little pills that made smoke come out the engine smokestack.
I think Mom must've been afraid I might try to eat them or something. I was still pretty little, you know.

That was almost 55 years ago...
and that Lionel train set is STILL in great shape!
It survived not only my playing with it, but also 3 younger brothers who inherited it after me.
The youngest one still has it, plus all the other track, paraphenalia, engines & cars that were added to it over the years. Probably need to rent a big convention hall somewhere to set it all up. LOL!!!

19 posted on 05/04/2010 12:06:46 PM PDT by Willie Green ("You can observe a lot just by watching.")
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To: Willie Green

I think the technology was invented and developed here by Westinghouse years ago. Because of the costs and the other difficulties of actually operating one in this country they sold the technology to Japan, I think. Don’t know what happened after that.


20 posted on 05/04/2010 4:03:33 PM PDT by Mind-numbed Robot (Not all that needs to be done needs to be done by the government)
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