Shanghai, striving to be the city of the future, begins construction on the world's first commercial railway based on magnetic levitation technology. Will MagLev succeed this time?
"The idea of a maglev train -- floating a centimeter or two in the air on a cushion of electromagnetic repulsion created between superconducting magnets in the train and coils in the guide track, and zipping along at speeds above 200 miles an hour without friction -- has been studied for decades. But the only maglev service ever opened to the public, a link of less than half a mile between the main railway station and the airport in Birmingham, England, was closed in the mid-1990's after 11 years in operation because of maintenance problems.Since then, no government has been willing to underwrite the huge cost of building maglev lines..."
Thanks to Abhijeet Chavan
Read the full story: Futuristic Shanghai's Risky Bet: Train on Air
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