High Speed Rail or Transrapid Maglev?

Yes!!!!!!!

Yes!!!!!!!

When they get it up to MACH one then I will ride ......................
 
Last edited:
Lightning.gif
The future is electrifying.
Lightning.gif


lightbulb%20idea.gif
 
Hello,

I had several projects in Shanghai and after having some excitement with taxi drivers close to the end of their 24h shift I switched to the Transrapid and really liked it.

Here is a small video when the two trains meet at 300 kph in the middle. They only go 450 k during peak times and this was not the time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIuiBkaWJZU


Kai.
 
I think these are awesome.
Once again, the Chinese are Waaay ahead of the pack.

To many monopolistic interests in the US are busy covering their assets for this nation to see anything like this any time soon.
Number one in nothing but debt and decline now.
 
Last edited:
I think these are awesome.
Once again, the Chinese are Waaay ahead of the pack.

To many monopolistic interests in the US are busy covering their assets for the this nation to see anything like this any time soon.
Number one in nothing but debt and decline now.

Things could change if they become a problem of National Security!!!
We need mobility and ubuquity to create a synergy, and this could be the key for prosperity! For this, every minute counts!
No prosperity, no security!
 
That was an interesting leap.

That was an interesting leap.

I think these are awesome.
Once again, the Chinese are Waaay ahead of the pack.

To many monopolistic interests in the US are busy covering their assets for the this nation to see anything like this any time soon.
Number one in nothing but debt and decline now.

Hello Mike,

I live two miles from work and I often work from home, what value would I find in a high speed train?

I hope we don’t see anything like this any time soon because I feel it would be a waste of resources.

It encourages people to move far from their work place and encourages urban sprawl.

In my opinion, high speed rail is technically interesting but not particularly applicable to the existing transportation needs in this country.

I used to enjoy riding trains before Amtrak took over, now, in my opinion; they don’t work any better than the post office.

In my opinion not everything is a monopolist plot to cover assets; some things are just a bad idea.

You might find value in developing a more positive attitude about the USA.

Thank you, Vance
 
Levitation

Levitation

I remember my High School electronics class, where an animated instructor demonstrated the simplicity of magnetic levitation by placing a washer shaped aluminum plate down over a coil with a wood dowel protruding up out of the center. When he switched on the power to the coil, the aluminum ring shot the coil into the air.

If I am not mistaken, though there seems to be a lot of obfuscation (I really like that word) surrounding MagLev; acceleration uses about half again to twice as much power as an electric traction train, and over twice the running power of a traction train.

Also, because the motor is in the track, there is a considerable amount more natural resource required to MagLev. Copper is not cheap, and not that abundant. Imagine four monster motors (two per track) strung out over a thousand miles. The Japanese version might not require that much copper because they use trolley wires for power to onboard motors.

Maybe I'm wrong, but there's no such thing as a free lunch.

Hey!?! How about gyrotrains? Or air cushion trains?
 
Hello Mike,

I live two miles from work and I often work from home, what value would I find in a high speed train?

I hope we don’t see anything like this any time soon because I feel it would be a waste of resources.

It encourages people to move far from their work place and encourages urban sprawl.

In my opinion, high speed rail is technically interesting but not particularly applicable to the existing transportation needs in this country.

I used to enjoy riding trains before Amtrak took over, now, in my opinion; they don’t work any better than the post office.

In my opinion not everything is a monopolist plot to cover assets; some things are just a bad idea.

You might find value in developing a more positive attitude about the USA.

Thank you, Vance




Only ideologues (who probably read just one book) examine everything through a political or a moral lens. How about looking at this pragmatically? What about the little things like leadership, vision, planning, execution, favorable economic returns, and oh yeah, the ability to sacrifice short-term benefits and minority interests for the long term gain and the greater good? Is it possible that these little things better account for success in infrastructure development than say, the degree of freedom-lovingness or god-fearingness? All the narratives of freedom vs. oppression, evil vs. good, democracy vs. authoritarianism are nothing but mental masturbation, perverted excuses for our infracstructure-related failures, or cynical spins to turn a genuine negative (our paralyzing inaction) into a PR-positive (the need for democratic consultations with all parties involved). Sigh… We are beginning to sound like the Indians (from India), who use democracy to explain away every failure. Oh no, we can’t build this because we are a democracy. What, a subway? Subways are for commies! Bigger airports? Pffff, only dictatorships care about size. Our budget overruns are just a democracy-tax; deadlines are just best democratic estimates; indecision is just an exercise of the freedom to agree to disagree. Oh, certainly do not mind the endless parade of lawsuits brought by money-grubbing lawyers who supposedly represent the interests of those whose lives are about to be “ruined” by a HSR project because these lawsuits are a sign of our mature democracy and our unbridled freedom to pursue self-interest above collective responsibility. Yep, you heard it right, collective responsibility is just commie talk; self-interest is the American way. Let China build! The more China builds, the less free it becomes. America will not follow China into sacrificing freedom for good infrastructure! Why build roads, bridges, HSR, airports, etc. when we already have FREEDOM and LIBERTY?!
 
Angry and Unhappy!

Angry and Unhappy!

So Fritz, are you saying it is monopolistic interests covering their assets or is this just another example of a of your inability to hear anything but your own rant?

I find your mindless drivel annoying so I won’t encourage you by pointing out just how confused and off topic you are.

You must be losing because you sound so angry and unhappy.

Thank you, Vance
 
You might find value in developing a more positive attitude about the USA.

Vance...I won't go spinning off into another political "debate" with the entrenched views of some on this forum...no less even you.
I respect your entitlement to cling to an outdated view of this nation...may you lovingly remember it the way it WAS.
I'll not take that from you, nor suggest you abandon it.

But suffice to say:
I was born into a Nation that ONCE innovated technologically in all industries.
I remember when once the people in Towns and Cities across this Nation MADE THINGS to sell....in the factories that no longer exist here.
I witnessed as a youth the high hopes of a Nation as it stepped foot upon a non-terrestrial satelite that revolved around our "Home".
I remember when we as a Nation could afford a better tomorrow...without incurring massive DEBT to pay for it.


Now a scant 35 years later my hopes continue to wain year after year as I watch the usurpation of all that was once common place in a formerly great Nation by International Banking Cartels and the Corporate criminal elites that run everything else.
We are no longer number one...it's over folks.
You ARE witnessing the end of (what you've been told over and over again is an EXPERIMENT by those who GOVERN OVER YOU)...this; the "Democratic Experiment".
(To this day...this is how every major think tank, to wit the CFR, refers to our Nation).

The only "positive attitude" I carry anymore is that I'm positive we are number one IN DEBT and DECLINE.

I stand by my comments. Prove it ain't so.

Respect my right to say it Vance...as I have yours to believe as you do.

DONE.

PS...the only "Angry and Unhappy" lately are the "25 percenter's" who lost the last election.

Rush Limbaugh: "Election's have Consequences".
 
Last edited:
Life keeps getting better for me Mike.

I can remember lots of things that weren’t that great in the past.

I remember practicing duck and cover.

I remember 85% income tax.

I lived in Berkley.

I remember McNamara.

I remember 24 percent interest rates on mortgages.

I don’t feel it is the end of the experiment.

I don’t care for the changes that are being made now.

I am not looking forward to the higher taxes, inflation and the reduction in the quality of the health system.

There is not much I can do about policy as an individual.

I can work at making the changes work for me.

I suspect that tomorrow will be as nice as today.

Thank you, Vance
 
A lot of interesting opinions coming up.
I very seldom disagree with Vance on anything, but this time I beg to differ. If the US would support public transport more, it would be a blessing for many large cities which are spread out anyway but indivuduals travel by car today! However, strong other interests put all the mono-rail attempts to rest.

But, that is not, where the maglev plays. They want to travel for more than the Shanghai 20 miles: On that track the train reaches top-speed only for 2 of the 7 minutes ride.
The Shanghai Hangzhou extention (80 miles) never came into existence, because it would have gone along the inner city of Shanghai and citizen protest against the noise was too strong (and that means something in China!)
The maglev was meant for short flight distance like 200-600 miles. But the cost of the track is horrendous.
Terry, apparently the friction reduction outweighs the power consumption of the levitation, so the energy ratio is better than "comparable" high speed trains.

Well then, if the maglev is such a great thing, why doesn't everyone, and in particular Germany, have one?
The very powerful Transrapid consortium tried very hard to pressure the German gov into installing a proper distance connection like Munich-Berlin, Berlin-Hamburg etc. However, even during the planning stage, the cost expoded at such a horrific rate that every attempt failed. Additionally Germany has a very good high speed train network with speeds up to 190mph. So there is no need.

Looking at the last bail-out figures, however, we could have built one TO the US, with under-sea tunnel.

Kai.
 
Debt

Debt

A lot of interesting opinions coming up.
I very seldom disagree with Vance on anything, but this time I beg to differ. If the US would support public transport more, it would be a blessing for many large cities which are spread out anyway but indivuduals travel by car today! However, strong other interests put all the mono-rail attempts to rest.

But, that is not, where the maglev plays. They want to travel for more than the Shanghai 20 miles: On that track the train reaches top-speed only for 2 of the 7 minutes ride.
The Shanghai Hangzhou extention (80 miles) never came into existence, because it would have gone along the inner city of Shanghai and citizen protest against the noise was too strong (and that means something in China!)
The maglev was meant for short flight distance like 200-600 miles. But the cost of the track is horrendous.
Terry, apparently the friction reduction outweighs the power consumption of the levitation, so the energy ratio is better than "comparable" high speed trains.

Well then, if the maglev is such a great thing, why doesn't everyone, and in particular Germany, have one?
The very powerful Transrapid consortium tried very hard to pressure the German gov into installing a proper distance connection like Munich-Berlin, Berlin-Hamburg etc. However, even during the planning stage, the cost expoded at such a horrific rate that every attempt failed. Additionally Germany has a very good high speed train network with speeds up to 190mph. So there is no need.

Looking at the last bail-out figures, however, we could have built one TO the US, with under-sea tunnel.

Kai.

Good point.

I would guess that Germany's debt was one reason the Chinese went with the German MagLev. It might have been one way to take payment. Most EEU nations have more external debt per capita than we have, with nationalized health care we'll catch up.

We have trouble getting the public to approve transportation projects because we spend about 80% of all taxes collected on social programs. The rest barely supports the cost of government, and defense.
 
Good point.

I would guess that Germany's debt was one reason the Chinese went with the German MagLev. It might have been one way to take payment.

China paid for what they ordered in Deutsche Mark. They did not pay for the espionage and removal of plans (captured on CCTV), however, maybe that was considered debt repayment.

Kai.
 
I keep going back and reading Vance´s post and I can´t belive he posted that . . .
his reason for not caring about better transportation is because he does not need it.
I always thought those kind of decisions are made considering the higher percentage in need, not the minority´s interests . . .
If this rapid train trend had the US involved and nations like Brazil were dealing with it, would Vance think it is a good thing?
Heron
 
I keep going back and reading Vance´s post and I can´t belive he posted that . . .
his reason for not caring about better transportation is because he does not need it.
I always thought those kind of decisions are made considering the higher percentage in need, not the minority´s interests . . .
If this rapid train trend had the US involved and nations like Brazil were dealing with it, would Vance think it is a good thing?
Heron

You better believe it, but in every heard is a confused and self-centered cow, that is the problem.
 
The Experimental-commercial track of the Transrapid in China costed so much because, Chinese was not sure the German would deliver the technology, so the track had to withstand a lot! even the installation of a high speed train, not to lose the face!!!

The commercial Transrapid between one metropole of Germany and its airport would have costed so much because the tunnel needed would have costed too much, even for a train; anyway, nothing have been built, even a train...
The german press was not fair by being against the two industrial groups which are at the origin of the Transrapid, by pointing very severely and not very honnestly, every problem encountered by the Transrapid...
The german ecologists demonised, as always, the Transrapid;

but, ecologists are always begging a right of way for frogs through all the rail paths, and elected people are now asking why Germans have sold technology to China, whereas Germany needs eagerly new domains to create jobs!...
 

Attachments

  • HSL-Zuid-_TEST 3.JPG
    HSL-Zuid-_TEST 3.JPG
    62 KB · Views: 0
Top