It would be good to have maglev trains running in airlocked underground and subsea tunnels that contain a vacuum. Velocities could easily exceed the speed of sound.
The infrastructure costs somewhere in the order of a billion pounds per mile of track, before you even begin running services. They're ideal in big cities where journeys are short and road traffic densities are high, as they can help to reduce congestion. There is no congestion over the oceans.
Magnetic levitation, basically the train doesn't touch the tracks as the ,train is clamped around the track but electromagnets hold it "off the rails", meaning you could push it, and it would simply glide, it takes some of the resistance out of the equation, and also means there is less noise and the ride is smoother as really the train in flying.
Magnetic levitation, basically the train doesn't touch the tracks as the ,train is clamped around the track but electromagnets hold it "off the rails", meaning you could push it, and it would simply glide, it takes some of the resistance out of the equation, and also means there is less noise and the ride is smoother as really the train in flying.
Also the track is the motor, meaning the vehicle doesn't carry fuel or motors for locomotion, and the motor can be immensely powerful.
Hmmm, 311 mph, eh? Well as a maglev in Japan reached 360 mph 11 years ago in 2003, that's not exactly progress. And as our HS2 will have a maximum possible speed of 250 mph (if it actually happens), the answer to the original question is probably "not within a generation". They might not even replace conventional High Speed trains, never mind planes (here). Infrastructure costs compared to aircraft will probably always be prohibitive except in a few special cases.
The problem with Maglev systems is that they are completely incompatible with normal railways.
This means it would be impossible for trains to run on both the high speed and the normal speed rail lines.
In the case of most European high speed systems the trains run on both high speed lines and normal speed lines. This is also planned to be the case with HS2.
So all in all it is unlikely that we will get High Speed Maglev in this country.
The vacuum tunnel is supposedly the future, London to New york in 45 mins, london to Glasgow in 6 minutes.:D
If we want that sort of stuff in the UK, the gov will have to quadruple the council tax for everyone in the country. Maybe double the amount of tax on petrol/diesel as well, maybe put vat up to 40%.
In short, unless prices for such massive engineering projects comes down radically, I can't see it happening.
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Well trains usually prefer tunnels to riding waves/
A 4000 mile long tunnel? Never happen
The infrastructure costs somewhere in the order of a billion pounds per mile of track, before you even begin running services. They're ideal in big cities where journeys are short and road traffic densities are high, as they can help to reduce congestion. There is no congestion over the oceans.
Probably not in our lifetime, but one day it will most likely happen.
http://www.tunneltalk.com/Strait-Crossings-Jan10-Conference-report.php
Expansion joints on a larger scale, they're used in engineering all over the place for varying reaons.
Heathrow airport is not even in London.
Hmmm, 311 mph, eh? Well as a maglev in Japan reached 360 mph 11 years ago in 2003, that's not exactly progress. And as our HS2 will have a maximum possible speed of 250 mph (if it actually happens), the answer to the original question is probably "not within a generation". They might not even replace conventional High Speed trains, never mind planes (here). Infrastructure costs compared to aircraft will probably always be prohibitive except in a few special cases.
This. The concept has been around for decades but nobody has really been able to turn it into a practical reality.
Maybe you could create a submerged, yet suspended, tube instead.
Perhaps some supports could be on rollers / wheels so that the support wouldn't actually move even if the crust underneath did.
Not for transatlantic fights.
It's the past and it turned out to be a right lemon: http://www.theguardian.com/science/the-h-word/2014/apr/04/brunels-atmospheric-railway-history-technology-
This means it would be impossible for trains to run on both the high speed and the normal speed rail lines.
In the case of most European high speed systems the trains run on both high speed lines and normal speed lines. This is also planned to be the case with HS2.
So all in all it is unlikely that we will get High Speed Maglev in this country.
It is an expensive prestige technology but what would really help its uptake and growth is the development of room temperature superconductors.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superconductivity
Crikey - going either way would put me off travel for life! One city I absolutely hate (beings with "L") the other I barely tolerate!
If we want that sort of stuff in the UK, the gov will have to quadruple the council tax for everyone in the country. Maybe double the amount of tax on petrol/diesel as well, maybe put vat up to 40%.
In short, unless prices for such massive engineering projects comes down radically, I can't see it happening.