'Maglev- The Second' - Is It Economical?

The recent retirement of Indian Metro Man E. Sreedharan, has made atmosphere a little nostalgic for the Indian railways. He was one of the architects for building the Delhi Metro. But looking at the prospects of global transport, there is an era yet to usher in completely. It is the era of #-Link-Snipped-#. The idea which was adopted by very few countries and recently China has sparked a debate in the minds of many "Is #-Link-Snipped-# a feasible concept?"

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Image Credit: Maglev.net

Looking back at the history, the idea really got a kick-start in 1984-1995, when the first maglev train came in to existence in UK, from Birmingham International Airport to Birmingham Railway Station. However, apart from being a success in Japan, Shanghai and a few other countries, magnetic levitation trains have gone nowhere but just 'levitating' in between Government policies.

Dr. James Powell and Dr. Gordon Danby who invented I generation Maglev in 1966 (now operative in Japan) are also working on II generation. This time they have come up with superconducting magnets for accelerators and MRI's which are required to propel the vehicle forward. The duo wants to implement this technology on 29,000 miles of US National Maglev network. The exercise is expected to generate 2 million jobs during the tenure of this project.

While the facts, figures and information about the magnetic levitation trains are easily available, we recently had an opportunity to have correspondence with James Jordan- Washington, DC consultant in energy and environmental policy. He is closely associated with a project for development of II generation of Maglev transportation. With 30 years of experience in policy making, he claims that the idea has a lot of potential and bright future waits for the II generation in America and rest of the world.

It also appears that what he is saying is true. For the very reason that these trains do not operate on engines but on electricity. The environmental degradation from fuel, which is more evident in diesel and gasoline powered vehicles will not exist. Moreover, the day to day operating cost of air planes and other public transport system being high, the Maglev appears economical. Mr. Jordan said, "We are confident that we can fund the development of Maglev networks with private equity in the U.S.  Its low maintenance and operating cost is only about 5 cents per passenger mile compared to 15 cents per passenger mile for air travel.  The cost for shipping freight is only 10 cents per ton mile compared to interstate carrier trucks at 32 cents a ton mile and $1 plus for air cargo."

When we are talking this in the American context, we also mean that it is worth taking interest by other countries also. When many small projects are yet to get a nod from Government of various countries, it won't harm much to have this on an experimental basis. What do you think about the whole aspect?