Imagine if you could fly from New York to Los Angeles in less than seven hours. Maglev trains could make it possible.
Maglev, which is shorthand for magnetic levitation, trains can be traced back to Brookhaven National Laboratory’s pioneering technology. In the late 1960s, Brookhaven’s James Powell and Gordon Danby received the first patent for a magnetically-levitated train design. Powell had an idea while sitting in traffic jams and thought that there must be better ways to travel on the ground than cars or trains. Powell came up with the idea of using superconducting magnetics to lift a train car. Superconducting magnets can be electromagnets that have been cooled to extremely high temperatures during their use. This dramatically increases the magnetic field’s power.
In 2004, Shanghai saw the opening of the first commercially-operated high-speed superconducting Maglev train. Others are also in use in Japan and South Korea. To connect cities like Baltimore and Washington, D.C., there are a variety of routes being explored in the United States.
Maglev is a method where superconducting magnets suspend trains cars above a U-shaped concrete walkway. These magnets are similar to ordinary magnets. They repel each other when the poles of the same magnetic field face each other. One creates a magnetic field that allows the train to hover approximately 5 inches above the guideway, while the second helps keep the train horizontally stable. Magnetic repulsion is used to keep the train car at the ideal spot. The closer it is to the bottom or the center of the guideway, the greater magnetic resistance it experiences. A third loop is powered by alternating current power. This is where magnetic attraction and repellence are combined to move the train car along a guideway. Imagine the box with four magnets, one at each corner. The magnets in the front corners are facing out and those at the back have south poles to the sides. The magnetic fields generated by electrifying the propulsion loops pull the train forward from its front and push it forward form the back.
The floating magnet design ensures smooth travel. Because the only source of friction in the train is air, it can travel up to 325 miles an hour. However, riders experience less turbulence than traditional steel wheel trains.
Safety is another important benefit. The powered guideway “drives” Maglev trains. Because they are all powered at the same speed, any two trains travelling the same route can’t collide with each other. Maglev is also able to prevent traditional train derailments from occurring due to cornering too fast. Maglev trains move further away from their normal positions between the guideway walls to increase the strength of the magnetic force that pushes them back into place.
Jesse Powell finds this core feature to be the most exciting. Maglev does not have a driver. The network will send the vehicles where they are needed. This is basic physics. Now that computers have algorithms to route things efficiently, it is possible to change the schedule of the entire network. He said that it will make the transportation system more flexible in the future.”
Although this amazing technology is not yet available in the United States, Powell and his team could soon have you floating to your next destination.