Lower cost Maglev transport solution

Engineers at LaunchPoint Technologies have been working with Applied Levitation and Fasttransit Inc, to develop a completely new, revolutionary mode of maglev transportation.

Using Applied Levitation’s no-contact Stabilized Permanent Magnet (“SPM”) levitation system it will permit incremental upgrade of current rail and subway systems. By installing SPM guideways on the same ties as existing tracks, with one maglev rail outside each of the existing steel rails and a motor rail down the center, SPM maglev vehicles can operate simultaneously with standard rail and subway vehicles. As a result, existing rail and subway cars can remain in operation while being gradually replaced with new maglev vehicles that cost less and perform far better. This capability avoids the need to completely overhaul current infrastructure at tremendous cost.

The FASTRANSIT system is a packet-switching transportation network that uses permanent magnetic levitation and linear motors for instant switching and direct routing on an ultra-high capacity network. The system can be used for mass transit, freight transport or personal rapid transit.
Some of the proposed benefits of this system are:

• Low capital cost–SPM maglev guideways can be built, mile for mile, for about the same cost as one lane of freeway with twenty times the carrying capacity.
• Easily integrated–Existing rail and subway systems can be easily retrofitted with SPM maglev capabilities, enabling incremental upgrades of an aging infrastructure.
• Fast switching–SPM maglev technology uses instant magnetic switching with no moving parts which enables more efficient routing of computer-controlled maglev vehicles.
• Network capability (Mag-Net^TM)–With SPM maglev technology and instant magnetic switching, transportation networks can be developed to route traffic in much the same way as information is routed over the internet.
• Highly scalable–SPM maglev technology can be used with smaller, lighter vehicles for more efficient passenger transportation, or with bigger, heavier vehicles for the transport of freight.

 The firms have already tested the system on a scale and a short indoor track, and is now planning a quarter mile outdoor track.

Maglev rails have been built and tested since about 1980 and a few high speed maglev railways are in operation, most famously the one between downtown Shanghai and Pudong International Airport. The California University of Pennsylvania is currently investigating an urban maglev system (not with SPM technology) for its campus.