Maglev

[amazonify]B000QXCUFY:right[/amazonify]

Maglev are trains that run by mag­net­ic lev­i­ta­tion and trav­el at speeds of 600mph. They were first built and designed by Ger­man firms, used in Chi­na [wikipedia]

Intro arti­cle: “Mag­ne­train: A 600-mph Rail­road Sus­pend­ed by Mag­nets”

Sub­ject of John Lien­hard’s Engines of Our Inge­nu­ity pro­gram, episode no. 1745 [tran­script] [audio]

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Maglev and new rail transport systems in the news

The stim­u­lus pack­age could final­ly bring maglev to Pitts­burgh? The pro­pos­al is for a 250mph train trav­el­ing from Pitts­burgh Inter­na­tion­al Air­port to downtown Pitts­burgh, and then east to Mon­roeville and Greens­burg. (Report­ed by MSNBC via ThePittsburghChannel.Com, March 2009)

ThyssenK­rupp AG (Ger­many) still work­ing on tory.asp?file=/2009/2/28/focus/3367295&sec=focus”>underground maglev for the 2010 World Expo, Shang­hai, Chi­na.

North Car­oli­na work­ing on tory/1423971.html”>high speed rail (Mar 2009), but not maglev?

Richann Ben­der of the Cal­i­for­nia-Neva­da Super Speed Train Com­mis­sion has been pro­mot­ing maglev for years — an inter­est­ing arti­cle in the Las Vegas Sun shows her hold­ing an illus­tra­tion from 1983 that pro­mot­ed the maglev idea (“One-woman bureau­cra­cy keeps maglev hopes alive,” March 3 2009).

More maglev in the news…

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Maglev Gifts

One way to get maglev out there and pro­mote this futur­is­tic tech­nol­o­gy is with gifts. There’s a great, inex­pen­sive Maglev toy for kids called the [amazonify]B000JLU36G::text::::Magnet Lev­i­ta­tion Set[/amazonify], hands-on and fun. There’s also a book on maglev for ele­men­tary school chil­dren, [amazonify]1597160849::text::::Super­fast Trains[/amazonify] by Mark Dubows­ki.

A great inex­pen­sive gift idea for adults is “[amazonify]B000QXCUFY::text::::High Tech Monorails[/amazonify],” a 2‑DVD set: “Expe­ri­ence this mes­mer­iz­ing and effi­cient tech­nol­o­gy in some of the most exot­ic loca­tions around the globe where mono­rails have found new life.”