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MAGLEV
, or 
magnetically levitating
train is a form of transportation that suspends, guides and(usually) propels vehicles, predominantly trains, usingmagnetic forces.This method has the  potential to be faster, quieter and smoother thanwheeled mass transitsystems, potentially reaching velocities comparable to turbopropand jet aircraft(900 km/h, 600 mph
 
).The highest recorded speed of a maglev train is 581 km/h (361 mph), achieved in Japan in 2003,6 km/h faster than the conventional TGV speed record.
If you've been to anairportlately, you've probably noticedthat air travel is becoming more and more congested.Despite frequent delays, airplanes still provide the fastest way to travel hundreds or thousands of miles. Passenger air travel revolutionized the transportation industry in the lastcentury, letting people traverse great distances in a matter of hours instead of days or weeks.The only alternatives to airplanes -- feet, cars, buses, boatsand conventional trains -- are just too slow for today's fast-paced society. However, there is a new form of transportationthat could revolutionize transportation of the 21st century theway airplanes did in the 20th century.A few countries are using powerfulelectromagnets to develop high-speed trains, called
maglev trains
.Maglev is short for magnetic levitation, which means that these trains will float over a guideway using thebasic principles of magnets to replace the old steel wheel and track trains. In this article, you will learnhow electromagnetic propulsion works, how three specific types of maglev trains work and where you canride one of these trains.If you've ever played with magnets, you know that opposite poles attract and like poles repel each other.This is the basic principle behind electromagnetic propulsion. Electromagnets are similar to other magnets in that they attract metal objects, but the magnetic pull is temporary. As you can read about inHow Electromagnets Work, you can easily create a small electromagnet yourself by connecting the endsof a copper wire to the positive and negative ends of an AA, C or D-cellbattery. This creates a smallmagnetic field. If you disconnect either end of the wire from the battery, the magnetic field is taken away.The magnetic field created in this wire-and-battery experiment is the simple idea behind a maglev trainrail system. There are three components to this system:
•
A large electrical power source
 
•
Metal coils lining a guideway or track
 
•
Large guidance magnets attached to the underside of the train
 The big difference between a maglev train and a conventional trainis that maglev trains do not have an engine-- at least not the kind of engine used to pull typical train cars along steel tracks. The engine for maglev trains is rather inconspicuous. Instead of using fossil fuels, the magnetic field created by the electrified coils in the guideway walls and the track combine to propel the train.
Photo courtesy Railway Technical Research Institute
Maglev trains can travel at speeds of up to 310 mph (500 kph). See moreelectricity pictures.
 
Photos courtesy Railway Technical Research Institute
Above is an image of the guideway for the Yamanashi maglevtest line in Japan.
Pros and cons of different technologies
Each implementation of the magnetic levitation principle for train-type travel involves advantages and disadvantages. Timewill tell us which principle, and whose implementation, winsout commercially.
 
Technology
 
 Pros
 
Cons
EMS
(Electromagnetic suspension
 
)Magnetic fields inside and outside the vehicle areinsignificant; proven, commercially available technology thatcan attain very high speeds (500 km/h); no wheels or secondary propulsion system neededThe separation between the vehicle and the guideway must beconstantly monitored and corrected by computer systems toavoid collision due to the unstable nature of electromagneticattraction; due to the system's inherent instability and therequired constant corrections by outside systems, vibrationissues may occur.
EDS
(Electrodynamic)Onboard magnets and large margin between rail and trainenable highest recorded train speeds (581 km/h) and heavyload capacity; has recently demonstrated (December 2005)successful operations using high temperature superconductors  in its onboard magnets, cooled with inexpensive liquidnitrogenStrong magnetic fields onboard the train would make the traininaccessible to passengers with pacemakersor magnetic datastorage media such as hard drives and credit cards,necessitating the use of magnetic shielding; limitations onguideway inductivity limit the maximum speed of the vehicle;vehicle must be wheeledfor travel at low speeds; used inJR- Maglev.
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