Re: Speed Rail V Maglev

[mauried@tpg.com.au (Maurie Daly)]

On Thu, 05 Oct 2000 00:03:23 GMT, dbromage@fang.omni.com.au (David
Bromage) wrote:

>Tezza (tezza2000@dingoblue.net.au) wrote:
>> Mr Kremmer....... said he was hoping to arrange for the "Mag-lev Consortium" to talk to council about the benefits of trains powered
>> by magnetic levitation. "Shanghai has now put in its first magnetic levitation high-speed train," .......
>
>Since when? AFAIK they're still just talking about it.
>
>Birmingham Airport's maglev closed after 11 years because it was expensive
>and unreliable.
>
>> "Wheel-on-steel trains have reached the end of their development.
>
>What rot! Alstom has plans for 320km/h tilting TGVS, 360km/h non-tilting
>and even 400km/h TGVs. A TGV reached 515km/h back in 1989, a speed which
>the German maglev has yet to reach. The practical upper limit of TGV
>development is 600km/h, which is where they max out on rollers.
>
>Cheers
>David

Yes, its interesting that we quite hear the argument that such
technology has allegedly reached the end of its development and
therefore for some reason ,we cant use it .
Surely the basic rationale for adopting any sort of technology is
based on whether it performs the task that is required at the time ..
We have been using steel wheels on steel rails in Australia now for
the last 100 years or so,and its ludicrous to suggest than somehow
this technolgy isnt any good any more and therefore cant be used.
We have also managed with the same speed limits of around 115 km/h for
pass trains for the past 60 years at least.
In Australia steel wheels on steel rails have a long way to go before
one could argue that they are obsolete.

An another differant note , its reported that the feds are about to
make the decision on Badgerys Creek Airport.
One can conclude that based on the outcome of this will rest
Speedrails fate , ie its very unlikely that both a 2nd Sydney Airport
and a VFT style rail service will both get the nod. 

MD