Concerning the new maglev to Shanghia airport in China… NOBODY USES IT!!! There are 3 or 4 people on each train! The high speed wonder maglev novelty has worn off even though it is very fast. I almost feel sorry for the maglev people for all thier effort. Those who think we should build maglev beware… do it right or look what happens, you get stuck with a white elephant. It is just not going well, there are technical bugs, people don’t use it after they try it once, China has chosen not to build further and it has all been very expensive.
-Whereas HSR projects around the world generaly do fill the trains quite well.
Also, the one that was built as a demonstation project at Old Dominion University has been closed due to ride problems. Apparently, it rode too rough. This one was written up in the IEEE Spectrum magazine a while back. I have not recieved any details as to when ,or if, it will be opened again. Perhaps we have some students from Old Dominion that read this board that would know?
George
I have a bunch of Popular Mechanics mags from the mid 70s to early 90s. About every two issues had something about meglev trains in it and how they would soon be around. It’s 30 years later and it seems to me they havent really caught on.
Well, of course there is the big “can’t use electrical devices” argument due to the magnets, Im not sure how true that is, but if so, that cuts the amount of business people in cities down to a minimum. And by the way, don’t confuse me with TG3 up there!
THG