TECHNOLOGY: All abo'ard the maglev, 58 the levitating, hyperfast train of the future The tace is on to build a new breed of trains. With the aid of electromagnets, they will whiz along at speeds of around tLd' m, p.h. When they arrive, perhaps in the 1990s -ttify op, revolifflonize-travel and relieve the pressure on the jammed ai-nd-.~ V increasinkly unfrieflildly skies. The question is who will dominate the market--the West Germans or the Japanese? Approved For Release 2000/08/11 CIA-RDP96-00792ROO0700470001-9 11 leis J1111113111111me rep"M WSW" Guide wheel t VAM magne Ail im R! :A ~4, i4 =4= - r- C.0 IF rates off the guideway. jie: "We firmly believecompletely overtook -Technology As the electromag- that our system is sailing ships. That net moves faster and the most promising is faster over the coils, one for the next how it will be with the magnetic force becomescen- the Transrapid." more power- tury and be-yond.- A decision on the Los Angeles-Las ful, raising the car That confidence will Vegas line is due to its cruising height have to be serene in 1989, when a of 16-mem- 4V2 in. Until the train to carry the Japaneseber commission will is moving fast through what looks announce whether I enough to lift off, to be years of headlinesTransrapid or a conventional it rolls on wheels that and television rail builder b re- coverage for the Westwill receive the AV tract as soon as the Germans. Their contract for the Trains: What a TA maglev hits 106 m.p.h. fast track Floatin t ! G W The method of propulsionTransrapid program, to the gaming tables. C is basically which has con- No American com- o o g y similar in the two systems.sumed more than $830 pany is expected In both cases million of public to submit a maglev plan. Japan and West Germanyre in a race with peed maglevs the train effectively funds, is readying Although the U.S. a rival high-s rides on an electro- its final prototype, had a maglev project the federal austerity i til 1975 d magnetic wave. Alternatingth . the current in TR-07, for tests on un a 20-mile track w er way un a set of magnets in the loops at both ends measures turned off guideway changes at Lathen, near the the electromagnets. iewed head on and If maglev trains~ can get their design their polarity and thus Dutch border. A previousAt least one politician, from a distance, do indeed get off into marketable the way they inter- model, the Democratic Sena- the the train of the tracks by the 1990s!asshape soon, they couldact with the magnets TR-06, has already tor Daniel Patrick future loQks like their builders claim,build a lead in the on the train. As a re- run the straightaway Moynihan of New an V overgrown bobsled they will be bound vital field of superconductorssuit, the train is alternatelyat 256 m.p.h.; the York, wants funding on stilts. As it for imminent glory. and estab- pushed and TR-07 is designed for research re- Sel- to approaches on its dom has a new leap lish a strong grip pulled along- Raising reach 300 m.p.h. Most track, 23 ft. above in technology been on the future of the frequency of the impressive of all, but congressional the as high- action is not ex- surned gro sorely needed. Majorspeed long-distance current speeds up the though, is the Transrapidpected before next und it fails almost air-travel arteries train travel. movement. Says consortium's year. all the tests of in rec- ognition: there are Europe, the U.S. Another major differenceKenji Fujie. chief engineerpush to break ground Despite the absence no engines, no wheels,and Japan are cloggingbetween the of JR's maglev on two major proj- of a homegrown up no rails. Most astonishingso badly so fast two designs is the laboratory: "We can run ects, the Los Angeles-Lasmaglev, enthusiasm of all. there is tkat the clean, way the trains levitate.it beyond 1,000 Vegas link and in the U.S. is running fast and effli - no clatter, no rumble,Cient maglev could As Manfred Wackers, k.p.h. [620 m.p.h. 1, a 95-mile Hamburg-Hannoverhigh for the Transrapid, no screech. As the Prove to be their chief systems ana- theoretically." line. which would cut salva- train hurtles by, tion. Not surprisingly,lyst for Thyssen's Theoretically, yes. Right travel time between there is only a the race to get team, puts it, "Our now, howev- Los Angeles and vast the sys- Las whoosh. the sound maglev to the markettem is attractive. er, the Japanese decisionhe more certain projectVegas from five hours of air being parted has turned into Theirs is repulsive."to rely on super- for the mo- by car to 70 min- by a. a vehicle traveling Sprint. Equally unsurprisingMeaning: the two systemsconductors has put them ment is the Hamburg-Hannoverutes by train. Ironically, at close to 300 are the contes- use opposite well behind the T the Japanese m.p.h. The new train is tants: West Germany ends of the magnet line, which the West trading company C. called a maglev, and Japan. to lift off. In the Germans in development. German gov- Itch & Co. has a West Reason: com- contraction of magneticThere is more than German model, winglikemercially feasible superconductorsernment committed pledged to help arrange levitation. The just sporting inter-flaps extend be- can itself to building the $2.5 billion last in vehicle lacks that est in the rivalry. neath the train and now be used only at extremelyJune, with operation financing that the litany of trainlike Although both countriesfold under a T-shapedlow tem- scheduled for the West Germans would prop- erties because it are working on maglevs,guideway. ElectromagnetsI peratures. The Japanesemid-1990s. The track need to build the floats in the air. their designs are in the guide- magnets must be is planned as the California-to- Nevada support- ' ed by the force of so fundamentally way are activated chilled to -452' F beforefirst segment of a link. Reason: C. immensely powerful different that victoryby a distant control they achieve 600-mile Kiel-Munich Itoh is Transrapid for sta- ! magnets. Instead one or the other tion, their polarity perfect conductivity- line, but not all agent in Japan and of rolling on rails,could have profound opposite that of Turning the thermo- systems are go yet- is pondering the it ac- im- elec- Some possi tually flies, using plications, for a tromagnets in the star that low requires politicians and many bility of building magnets for propulsion.whole area of technologi-wings. Because of costly liquid helium citizens remain un- that system at home. the Unhindered by any cal development. attraction between and heavy compressors convinced that the Even if Transrapid friction except Japan Railways Groupthe poles, the magnetsaboard the train $1. 8 billion needed is not awarded the wind for resistance, the maglev(JR), the leader in the guideway pull to reliquefy the evaporaLingthe first segment casino-express contract, can attain speeds in the Japanese on the magnets in helium. The will be money well maglev technol- develop- the unheard of in ordinaryment, uses a design wings, lifting the Japanese. who have pouredspent, especially ogy is already on land travel-the that relies on magnetstrain % in, $379 million with $1.35 billion its way to the U.S. Mag- fastest conventionalmade with superconductors,The Japanese magiev of private and governmentalready allocated netic Transit of train, France's the extraor- sits in a low, funds into the for a high-speed America, a subsidiary TGv con- of ('-in b grande vitesse),dinary materials trouglilike guideway,maglev, have reached ventional-railway West Germany's Daimler-Benz. hits only 186 that carry electricalpaved with two rows a speed of 323 project called the broke cut- Inter- .P.h. One maglev rents without resistance,of metal boxes containingm.p-h, on a 44-mile straightCity Experimental. ground in downtown is already running: The West Ger- aluminum track at Mi- Transrapid support- Las Vegas last Janu- a short, slow-moving man model, known coils. Built into (25 m.p,h.) line as the Transrapid the car's under yazaki on the southern ers, however, do not ary for a slower-speed-50 in and -carriage island of Kyushu. think the choice m.p-h.-mag- - built by ~i consortiumare six superconductingBut the track has none between conventional lev urban-transit Britain that shuttlesthat includes Thys- electromagnets. of the loops and trains and maglevs system. Completion people from Bir sen H Wh S of mingham's airport h f h Id b 3-mile segment of to the railwa l i the Las Ve- station M h the initial 1 h i 1361 k . tt- en one o shaWurves f d along realer-or one. . y ow- them passes over an railways. It ays one mag- gas People Mover But much faster prototypesensc urimag- 8 oun e an e is planned for 1991- are being test- e l G0742R1Q00 t essersc e RE)P96 s ou m MIR0 Minis- , d F 0()0 Riesenhuber Blohm and Krauss ftl 0 Maffei 7 uA ed , orc - , and ambitious arim einlah - . " ear for dating the rojects could ti w ~L begin- et und l o "S ood l T a t h h Th l ili T " , ven nying magnetic field-isthe Japanese develop no per er ona induced in h, a model thit is both a aps p e t ec y g ec 0 R g romagnets. ter o Research and e ogy: Nylest I ng