Magnetic-levitation land-transport systems are already in

operation - but can they compete economically with

conventional wheeled systems?

W o r k on magnetic levitation (mag-
lev) as a basis for ground transport
systems has been going on since the
1960s. Many maglev systems have
been proposed, of which t w o basic
types have reached full-scale track
testing at speeds of over 400 km/h.
Early work on the high-speed
systems also created interest in the
possible advantages of maglev at low
speeds, where it was thought that
negligible friction and noiseless
operation could lead t o improved
urban, automatic, guided transit (or
people-mover) types of system.
Two of these low-speed maglev
systems, suitable for use in town
centres, airports and shopping com-
plexes, are already in public service.
Although the future of maglev in
vehicle by the attractive force of
sets of electromagnets mounted
beneath the vehicle, acting upwards
towards steel track rails. In the BR
system, the vehicle straddles a
T-shaped track with the electro-
by
Eric Riches (F)
Consultant
magnets supported by legs on each
side: in the Japanese HSST-03
system the vehicle runs above a
U-shaped track with the magnets
positioned within and on each side
of the U.
A system using electromagnets
(or permanent magnets) for lev-
itation is inherently unstable, as can
be seen if one attempts t o lift a
piece of iron by a magnet without
contact between the two. This
problem is overcome by using
servo-controlled choppers, which
continually adjust current in the
electromagnets t o maintain a nom-
inally constant gap between the
magnets and levitation rails. The
control system is extremely sophis-
ticated, taking control signals from
an array o f gap transducers, accel-
erometers and flux sensors.
Noncontacting propulsion and
braking is provided by linear induc-
tion motors, mounted beneath the
vehicles, which interact with long-
itudinal reaction plates along the
track. The motors are powered

. .
Japanese Airlines, is t o levitate the I Flying to the planes at Birmingham Airport

IEE REVIEW DECEMBER I988 427

OIEE: 1988
 system in public service (Fig. I).
In Germany, early work used a
similar principle, but the system
that recently came into use in Ber-
lin, after extensive operation on a
test track, uses a non-electronic
system for levitation and control
(Fig.2). The track is U-shaped but
permanent magnets mounted on
the vehicle provide the lift forces
which balance i t s weight, at an air-
gap controlled by guide rollers on
the vehicle. The airgap i s adjusted
by a springllever arrangement,
which moves the magnets relative
t o the rollers, and hence the track,
t o control the lift forces. Vertically
axled rollers keep the vehicle in
horizontal alignment with the track.
The magnets have a secondary
2 Flyover: M-bahn system in Berlin use in providing the moving section
of a linear synchronous motor, the
laminated long stators of which,
with embedded windings, are inte-
gral with the support rails along
each side of the track. This
arrangement allows the 3-phase
inverters powering the motor sec-
tions t o be positioned alongside the
track, with the stator sections pro-
gessively switched on and off as the
vehicle mgves, t o economise on
motor power.
Experience from nearly 4 years’
operation at Birmingham Airport
has proven the low-maintenance
concept of maglev, where uninter-
rupted Operation o f vehicles for 20
hours a day for periods o f up t o a
month, without attention, has been
achieved. However, t o be set
against low maintenance i s the
higher power cost of maglev due t o
dissipation of the electromagnets,
and the poor efficiency o f linear
motors compared t o their rotary
counterparts.
The Japanese HSST-03 (Fig.3) has
been used for carrying the public at
exhibitions with an achieved avail-
ability of 99 .84% over a total 349
days. The recently formed HSST
Company is demonstrating a
24 tonne redesigned vehicle (the
HSST-04) at the Saitama Fair in
Kumagaya. This now uses a
3 Japanese HSST-03: all the fun of the fair T-shaped track, as at Birmingham,
by on-board variable-frequency prevent ice forming. t o reduce construction costs. There
3-phase inverters, controlled by This system was developed and are plans for a 7 km single-track
microprocessors. Emergency brak- engineered at Birmingham Airport system at Las Vegas t o start com-
ing is safely effected by cutting by a consortium of UK companies missioning in June 1989.
power to the electromagnets, with BR acting as technical consult- Capital costs of the Japanese
dropping the vehicle onto skids ant. Vehicles carrying up t o 40 pas- HSST system have not been
faced with a friction material, which sengers shuttle between the airport published, but the British and Ger-
slide along flat top surfaces o f the terminal and the railway station - man systems appear t o be more
support rails t o slow the vehicle at a distance of 6 2 0 m without driver expensive than the competing rub-
a deceleration o f around 0 * 15 g. o r attendant, under central com- ber-tyred and monorail people
A t critical points, such as terminal puter control. When opened in movers presently available. This is
stations, the rails may be heated t o I984 it was the world’s first maglev hardly surprising in a situation

428 IEE REVIEW DECEMBER 1988

where a new engineering system is
attempting t o break into an existing
technology, in which much time has
already been spent on cost reduc-
tion.
High-speed maglev
Comprehensive studies of high-
speed maglev concepts in the 1960s
led t o the development of test
tracks in West Germany and Japan,
on which high-speed trials have
been conducted since the late
1970s. W o r k is also in progress in
the Soviet Union, where a 3 km
high-speed track is reported t o be
under construction.
The German and Japanese dev-
elopments followed fundamentally
different lines. In the German
Transrapid system, levitation guid-
ance is by means of electromagnets
mounted under the vehicle reacting
with a T-shaped steel track, in
much the same arrangement as the
low-speed systems described
above. The linear motors are of the
long-stator-type, with windings in
the track. The problem of power
pick-up at design speeds of 400 km
o r more is overcome by inductive
(transformer) coupling from the
long-stator winding into windings
on the levitation magnets; batteries
provide power a t low speeds.
The Japanese have developed a
system which uses superconducting
magnets, cooled by helium cryo-
stats, mounted beneath the vehicle.
Short-circuited aluminium coils are
mounted in the track bed such that,
when the vehicle is moving along
the track, the currents induced in
these coils interact with the
onboard superconducting magnets,
providing lift forces. Lateral guide
forces are similarly produced by
interaction o f the magnets with the
coils of long-stator linear motors
arranged along each side of the
U-shaped track. Servo-control is
not required, as levitation of the
vehicle gives a stable equilibrium
condition in which lift and guidance
forces increase with speed. A levi-
tation gap of IO0 mm is easily main-
tained, compared with the gaps of
I O mm for the electromagnet
systems.
A t speeds below 100 km/h, the
vehicle runs on rubber wheels,
which retract at higher speeds. The
penalty paid by the superconduct-
ing-magnet system for the advantage
of stable equilibrium is the need
for refrigerated cryostats. However,
the discovery in 1986 of high-tem-
perature superconducting oxides,
which are superconducting at the
IEE REVIEW DECEMBER 1988
boiling point of nitrogen (77 K) and
above, has the potential of greatly
reducing this penalty in the future.
A first-generation unmanned test
car reached the present world-
record speed of 5 I 7 km/h in 1979,
since which time a manned test
train, MLU-001, has been running
on a 7 km test track in southern
Japan. Speeds of just over 400 km/h
were reached in February 1987
with a two-vehicle train. Tests with
three coupled vehicles showed that
stability improves as more units are
couple into the train. W o r k is now
continuing with a redesigned 22 m-
long, I 7 tonne vehicle (MLU-002)
t o carry 44 passengers at a design
target speed of 420 km/h (Fig.4).
This has already travelled more
than 4000 miles at speeds as high
as 354 km/h.
The pace of developments in
Japan has been matched by those in
Germany, where a test facility has
been built at Emsland and progress-
ively extended from 20 t o 31 km in
length. A two-section, I20 tonne
vehicle (Transrapid 06) has a seat-
ing capacity of 200 passengers in
54 m length and has achieved a
speed of 4 I 2 km/h. Particular atten-
tion has been paid t o the visual
impact o f what will be mainly an
elevated system (Fig.5), as each
guideway beam is only 2 * 8 m wide
and less in depth, with a surface
requirement of only 2000 m2 per
km length of double track. Noise
levels have proved t o be low, with
only aerodynamic noise; even at
400 km/h, the continuous sound
level at 25 m is less than 70 dB(A)
for I O vehicles per hour - com-
parable t o trains running at only
250 kmih.
4 Superconducting magnets support the Japanese vehicle at over 400 km/h
The competition
Before assessing the possible
future for maglev, we must
examine i t s competitors. A t low
speeds, the rapidly developing peo-
ple-mover market is dominated by
the rubber-tyred systems of West-
inghouse (USA), Matra (France) and
those of Japan, together with the
von Roll monorail. Like maglev,
these systems are quiet and visually
suited t o elevated guideways with
stations in buildings. Their mainten-
ance costs are higher than those o f
maglevs, but power consumption is
significantly less, as are their capital
costs.
Potentially more important, how-
ever, is the high-speed land-trans-
port market, which is now being
captured by the high-speed trains.
Tilting trains designed t o run at up
t o 250 km/h will be in operation on
existing lines in Europe within the
next few years.
But the most exciting develop-
ments are in the high-speed dedi-
cated lines, where 300 km/h service
speed i s planned for the French
TGV and 280 km/h for ICE in Ger-
many. Although these are some
25% less than the likely maximum
operating speeds of maglevs when
first introduced, the actual differ-
ence in journey times is relatively
small for presently suggested routes
in Europe of 200-300 km average
length. Thus, fare structure and
competitive position with road and
air traffic would be similar for high-
speed rail and maglevs.
Environmentally, however, the
high-speed railways are more intru-
sive and are difficult t o engineer in
hilly or mountainous country, com-
pared t o high-speed maglevs built
429
5 Transrapid 06 has achieved 4 I 2 kmlh at Emsland in Germany
on narrow elevated guideways and
capable of climbing IO% gradients.
The future
Maglev is already a proven engin-
eering reality. Low-speed systems
are in public operation and the t w o
high-speed systems are being tested
at speeds of over 400 km/h on
extensive test tracks. In terms of
technical performance, these
systems are competitive with their
rubber-tyred and steel-wheeled
rivals. The objectives of low
noise, low-maintenance, non-wear-
ing ~ u p p o r tand guidance systems,
ability t o climb steep gradients and
environmental compatibility have
been met. T o ride on a maglev
system is t o experience the consid-
erable technical achievement of the
many engineers and technicians
who have worked on maglev over
the past 20 years; but, as with so
many other innovative develop-
ments, it must be economically
viable if it is t o succeed in the long
term.
Improvements in the running
costs of low-speed maglev can be
made by, for example, reducing
average magnet current t o near
zero by use of permanent magnets,
as demonstrated recently in Japan,
but it is the capital cost which will
decide whether a worthwhile share
of the market can be captured.
Unfortunately, the consortium in
the U K which developed the Birm-
ingham Airport system appears t o
have lost i t s way, and is unwilling t o
devote further development funds
t o finance the necessary improve-
ments. Thus yet another U K first is
430
being dropped at the very time
when a major manufacturer of rub-
ber-tyred systems (Westinghouse
Electric) is reported t o have set up
a joint venture with AEG t o market
urban transport systems, including
the M-bahn maglev system.
The key question now is whether
the high-speed maglev develop-
ments in Japan and Germany will be
able t o surmount the same hurdle
o f cost as met by the U K low-
speed maglev system. The Japanese
have ten application studies in
progress at present, of which five
are high-speed systems, but their
long-term objective is still far ahead
when their Shinkansen high-speed
rail system will require major
improvement. By then, cost of the
expensive electronic control and
inverter systems may have
decreased, the advantage o f low
maintenance would be greater and,
most importantly, high-temperature
superconducting magnets could
well be commonplace. If so, then
the Japanese Railway Group which
is funding the development has a
real chance of success, particularly
as the superconductive levitation
system could then be further dev-
eloped for speeds well in excess of
400 km/h.
In Europe there is less time t o
decide on building the first high-
Further reading
‘Maglev transport and linear drives’, conferences,
1984, Solihull (IMechE)
1985, Tokyo (IEEJ)
1986, Vancouver (IEEE)
1987, Las Vegas (IEEE)
speed maglev transit system. The
high-speed rail network is fast
expanding, with the TGV 300 km/h
trains now planned t o operate up
t o the Channel tunnel, and seven
other lines planned in Western
Europe by 1995. Train speeds are
also increasing: in May this year, the
world record fell t o ICE with a
speed of 407 km/h.
Against this background, the com-
mercial viability of the Transrapid
maglev system has been under inten-
sive study over the past few years
with checks on feasibility o f a num-
ber of possible routes, among which
a 153 km route between Hamburg
and Hannover is now particularly
favoured. Several attractive high-
speed routes in the USA have also
been investigated. These studies
project a competitive cost o f opera-
tion (all running plus capital costs) of
between 4 and 6 . 5 pence per pas-
senger km. If confirmed, this would
be economically competitive with
other transport modes. A govern-
ment decision on the first route in
West Germany is imminent,
although this decision has already
been deferred from last year. A
favourable outcome could take us
into the 2 I s t century with a totally
new means of transport t o counter
the increasing congestion on our
intercity roads, railways and airways.
IEE REVIEW DECEMBER I988