Maglev again!

["David Bennetts" <davibenn@ozemail.com.au>]

Last Friday night on SBS there was a half hour program entitled Future
Transport.  Part of the program dealt with Maglev - a Professor Eastham??
from  Hong Kong University made some interesting points about Maglev.

He concluded that Maglev was not a viable option for long distance high
speed applications, as it was far too expensive, and the that gap between
speeds theoretically obtainable by Maglev and those now achievable by wheel
on rail technology was rapidly closing.

However he did consider that Maglev was a possible contender for relatively
slow speed urban operations, up to 80-100km/h, having the advantage of rapid
acceleration, ability to run in adverse weather conditions, and with little
noise in urban environments. The safety factor in the train enveloping the
track also impressed him.

Can't really see the advantage myself for Maglev on urban elevated railways,
having experienced Vancouver's Skytain, which is fully automated with linear
motors.  Looking forward to riding a similar new system in Kuala Lumpur
myself in a couple of months' time, the PUTRA LRT.  Have a look at its nifty
website at http://www.putralrt.com.my/ - you can click between stations on
the map for a virtual ride.

Regards

David Bennetts
Bowral