From the days of the horse, man has been trying to find ways for faster more efficient means of transportation. The Maglev train, short for Magnetic Levitation Train is another in a long line of potential solutions to that ultimate goal.
History
Imagined during the industrial age to replace the then current railway system and expand mass transportation, Emile Bachelet was the first to propose having trains motivated by electromagnets rather than the common mechanical methods of the day. His so called magnet train would inspire Eric Laithwaite. A British researcher, he was the first to fully explore the concept in the 1960s and continued to do so until 1973 when the project lost its funding. However, in 1966 came the giant leap the Maglev world needed from researchers James Powell and Gordon Danby, who eventually patented their published findings in 1968. Their data dealt with many of the early teething issues and in 1979 the first maglev train to carry passengers was built by the Germans for the International Transportation Exhibition. Unfortunately, maglev technology had fallen out of favor in North America while in the denser populations of Europe and Asia it gained foothold as a viable mode of transportation.
The German developed train was just for show and was dismantled leaving maglev to pop up in Britain with the first mass transit application at the Birmingham airport. That train operated from 1984 to 1995 when it was deemed obsolete causing maglev technology to return to its experimental phase. It wasn’t until 2003 that the first true commercial maglev train made its world debut in China running passengers from Shanghai’s city center to its Pudong airport.
Asia continues to be the hot bed of maglev technology as China is also scheduled to start work on the first city-to-city maglev train in 2011 between Shanghai and Hangzhou. Japan has also committed to its long history of high speed railways by connecting Tokyo and Nagoya with a maglev train by 2025.
How maglev works
Anyone with a basic understanding of magnetism can understand magnetic levitation. Magnets attract and repel each other so it’s possible to create a situation where an object can be suspended in the middle of a magnetic field or moved along by the natural force between them. On this basis there are three main ways to create maglev motion:
- Electromagnetic suspension: Like magnetic poles are used to move the train.
- Electrodynamic suspension: Opposite poles push the train away from the rails.
- Stabilized permanent magnet suspension: Magnets are arrayed in opposing poles to generate motion.
Maglev itself is a system between the rails and the vehicle. Stage one is to first levitate the coaches and this is done using superconductors know as diamagnets. These magnets generate internal magnetic fields that counter and mirror any external magnetic force keeping the train suspended. On the undercarriage of the train are magnets as well that react to the alternating fields of electromagnets located in the guideway walls. Since there is no friction, the alternating force pulls and pushes the train, while also being able to provide braking.