A Time of Suspense for High-Speed Rail Developments Worldwide
A throng of waiting riders in Bremen, Germany, this spring watched the three-car train rise 10 mm off the 400-volt DC rail track, levitated by a bay of magnets that are repelled by reaction rails fastened to the underbelly of the elevated concrete guideway. Those within the cars were about to join thousands that already have paid to ride the magnetically levitated test system owned by Transrapid International, Berlin. It is a system that a growing number of U.S. advocates hope to build on domestic soil.
The train began to move, propelled by stator packs aligned along each beam. As an alternating current fed the electromagnetic traveling field, riders could feel the pull of support magnets sweeping them along. The linear motor along each 37-m section of the 30-km track turns off as the train passes, rendering collisions on the same route virtually impossible, says Robert Budell, Transrapid spokesman.