Development of Maglev Trains

and their Impact on Travel

Máté Harazdy

Certificate in International Hotels and Tourism Operations

HTMi Switzerland
Introduction

This report will look at the development and history of railway travel that can be

lead back to 1807 when the first steam powered trains started taking passengers

(Train History). Since its introduction to the public sector, railway travel has

become one of the most important means of travel and it constantly faces

challenges on being more environmental friendly, safe and as fast as possible,

covering substantial distances in shorter time (Mammadov, N.D.). Today, railway

transportation is responsible for 387 Billion passenger kilometers only in the

European Union (Passenger Transport Statistics, 2014), while this number rises

to 2765 Million Kilometers Worldwide (UIC, 2011), unmistakably expressing the

significance of railway travel in Today's transportation. Compared to the number

of Airway Passengers that stands at 6.3 Billion per year, Railway Passengers sum

up at 2.76 Billion, further enhancing the importance of this sector (ITF, 2013).

According to Stephen J. Page, "Competition between different forms of transport

is also important, which highlights the significance of substitutability in

transport for tourism, where price, demand, supply and relative cost become

critical components" (Page, 2009), clearly giving an edge to railway transport

over other alternatives as it is a rather cost efficient alternative for costumers. As

railway transportation is brought to the edge of Today's technology, with trains

reaching operational speeds of 430 km/h, (Railway Technology, 2013) the

biggest issues the industry is confronted with are efficiency, noise pollution,

safety, air friction and cost of development. The report will look in depth at

Maglev Trains, planned solutions and concepts in respect to these issues and

their possible effects on travel and tourism.

Development of Maglev Trains and Their Benefits

Since the first appearance of public railway transport in 1807, when the first

steam powered locomotive trains were introduced by Matthew Murray and

opened for public passenger transport (Teaching Zone, N.D.), technology has

come a long way on improving efficiency, speed and comfort of railways. Today,

almost all trains are powered by electricity; diesel powered combustion engines

or combined diesel-electro power-plants. The benefits of these engines are their

easy maintenance and simple power delivery, while not being the most

eco-friendly solutions. These trains are also noise polluting and outdated designs

in a World that is proceeding toward weight reduction, renewable energy and

eco-friendliness. This constant push towards sustainability and enhanced safety

measures pawed the path for Magnetic Levitation Transport, or in short Maglev

trains (New World Encyclopedia, 2014).

Maglev technology is considered to be the foundation to all future railway

transport systems. When we look at its specifications it becomes rather clear

why it is such a breakthrough technology. First patented in March 1912 by Emile

Bachelet, " Using the forces of magnetic attraction and repulsion, Bachelet

explained in detail how to arrange the magnets, with their poles, on a pathway

and on the carrier and how to energize them (periodically) so as to create

magnetic fields and allow the carrier to move through these fields"

(MagnetBahnForum, 2009). Using this technology, trains are able to move

friction-less on a railway made of magnets. The trains don't have wheels, they

have specifically charged magnets, which when exposed to electricity, lift the

wagons one centimeter above the railway and provide movement.

This technology is also extremely energy efficient as these trains don't rely on

fuel but solely on electricity and only segments of the Maglev railway that the

train travels on have to be turned on, instead of the whole railway being

constantly exposed to electricity. This technology also eliminates the need for

one locomotive pulling or pushing the wagons, as all wagons are equipped with

the Maglev propulsion system, thus all of them charging in the direction of travel.

Since there is no friction between the magnets and the wagons, the trains are

capable of reaching speeds of up to 510 km/h while compiling with all safety

standards and greatly reducing noise pollution. So far only one accident has been

reported in Germany with Maglev Trains, when one collided with a maintenance

locomotive, resulting in 23 fatalities (The Guardian, 2006). Even in this case, the

train didn't de-rail, as one of the benefits of this technology is that it makes de-

railing virtually impossible, opposed to conventional, wheel railway alternatives.

This makes it one of the safest and fastest means of travel. In Germany there is

already a company that focuses on Maglev Train production, called the

ThyssenKrupp Transrapid GmbH (Transrapid). A proposed project of a 40 km

Maglev railway between Munich airport and Munich Center was unfortunately

abandoned due to the extremely high cost of 1.9 Billion Euros that the state just

couldn't afford. It was supposed to be and widely considered as a demonstration

of technology, as one mile costs 50 Million Euros, it is not yet considered to be an

economically efficient alternative. Having said that, the train runs successfully on

a 30km test track in Lower Saxony, Germany. Another prime example of the

success of this technology is first public Maglev train service in Shanghai, that

has been in operation since 2004 (MagnetBahn Forum), with trains

provided by the previously mentioned ThyssenKrupp Transrapid GmbH.

It connects Pudong Airport with the suburbs of Longyang Road, replacing metro

lines, with a capped top speed of 300km/h for safety and energy saving

measures. Unfortunately this railway has not been an economic success as ticket

prices are higher than conventional Metro tickets and the company is loosing

about 600 to 700 million Yuan per Year ( Ren, 2012 ). The newest addition to the

Maglev Train family is Japan's SCMaglev project that will run between Tokyo and

Nagoya when it is completed in 2027. It has already made its inaugural journey

of 42.8km between Uenohara and Fuefuki, taking 100 passengers up to speeds of

500km/h ( Amey, 2014 ). It is believed that this train will cut travel times by half,

meaning it will travel between Tokyo and Nagoya in 40 minutes instead of 80

minutes, which is a drastic reduction in time. In addition, Central Japan Railway

Company, the creator of SCMaglev will make the trains 16 carriages long,

enabling them to carry 1,000 people per train. This means that more people can

be transported faster on great distances, meaning that more people will prefer

this travel solution instead of cars or airplanes. Furthermore, when we consider

consumer comfort, trains are more convenient than airplanes, as the costumer

does not have to go through all kinds of security checks and check in procedures,

they only have to buy their tickets and get on the train with as much luggage as

they can carry. Similar benefits can be seen when railway travel is compared to

car travel. Being on a train is rather relaxing as one can work, sleep or just enjoy

the scenery passing by. As opposed to this, driving a car requires the driver's full

attention, it is exposed to traffic jams and pollutes the environment considerably,

while remaining the most dangerous way of transport with the most fatalities

per year with over 30.000 deaths in the European Union (EUC, 2014).
Benefits of such high-speed trains are clear with their environmental friendly

attributes, exceptional safety, ability to carry great masses of people with great

efficiency. So why aren't countries other than China, Germany and Japan pushing

to standardize these technologies and what are the plans for the future? As for

the future, plans are being drawn up for trains that travel in vacuum-tubes,

called Super-Speed Maglev Trains, completely eliminating air-friction and noise

pollution, while enabling trains to reach a theoretical 2,900 km/h (Yingqi, 2014).

That means that future trains could be able to reach speeds of almost three times

the sound, making jet airplanes look outdated and slow, as their average

operational speed is 870 km/h (Air Transportation, 1997). This technology isn't

even fiction anymore, as China has successfully completed its first vacuum train

testing facility in May 2014. Therefore, we can assume, that railway

transportation will eventually overcome airway travel as it becomes faster, safer

and more environmental friendly.

Conclusion and Recommendations

Overall, we can clearly see that railway travel has been an enormous element

of transportation, only surpassed by airway travel in the 20th century. As issues

arise regarding cost-efficiency, environment protection and more people

travelling across the Globe, scientist expect Carbon Dioxide emissions by air

travel to be doubled by 2030 (Runge-Metzger, 2010). Thus Maglev trains clearly

show an efficient and fast way into the future of travel and tourism, while

meeting the demands of costumers.

According to the conclusion it is believed that the future of transportation does

not rely solely rely on aviation technology, but rather on these newly engineered

trains transportation systems. Super-Speed Maglev trains could revolutionize

our travel experience, as they have the potential to cut emissions, reduce noise

pollution and out-pace the fastest of commercial jets. Hopefully by the year 2050,

we will all be able to travel comfortably with trains reaching three times the

speed of airplanes, leaving our cars behind, drastically reducing CO2 emissions,

noise pollution and environmental impact for a cleaner future while providing a

fast-paced and relaxed travel experience for the costumers, making our World

even smaller.
Reference List

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