World's Second Commercial Maglev to be built in Munich

[unimaginative2]

Germany to build maglev railway
BBC News



Germany has come up with the funds to launch its first magnetic levitation - or maglev - rail service.

The state of Bavaria is to build the high-speed railway line from Munich city centre to its airport, making it Europe's first commercial track.

Maglev trains use electric-powered magnets that enable them to float above their tracks, allowing for much faster speeds than traditional rail services.

The 1.85bn-euro ($2.6bn; £1.3bn) project had faced financing problems.

However, the Bavarian state government said it had signed an agreement with rail operator Deutsche Bahn and industrial consortium Transrapid that includes the developers of the train - Siemens and ThyssenKrupp.

Technological symbol

Maglev train travelling between Shanghai's airport and the city centre
Munich is following in Shanghai's foosteps

The only regular maglev service at present is in China, where the floating train whisks travellers between Shanghai's airport and the city's financial district.

The maglev, which has a top speed of more than 500km/h (310mph), is regarded as a symbol of German technological prowess.

However, the maglev project suffered a set back in September 2006 when a train collided with a parked maintenance vehicle on a test run in northern Germany, killing 23 people.

Japan has said it aims to launch its first maglev rail service by 2025.

No date was given for the launch of the Munich service.

 

[CDL.TO]

They finally got it worked out, eh? They've been proposing this for years. It's a real showpiece project, especially considering that they already have TWO S-Bahn lines to the Airport (a train to the airport from downtown every 10 minutes). A showpiece project funded mostly for selling the technology to other jurisdictions... kinda like the SRT.

 

[unimaginative2]

Well, it worked for the SRT's technology...

This'll be pretty great for Munich. Those S-Bahn lines are already way overcrowded and have pretty bad baggage handling. They're also pretty slow. You could say the Transrapid already has its showpiece in Shanghai, though...

It does make Toronto's fussing about building just one rail link to its (even busier) airport seem quite ridiculous.

 

[paul451]

I used to live in Munich until last June, The S-Bahn is one of the best things ever created, they dont build huge trains like GO, but they have trains which are very frequent.

They already have close 12 full Lines and then a few more smaller ones. Its one of the best regional transportation systems in the world.

They also have in the downtown allot of subway lines, streetcars and buses. For a city which is smaller then Toronto it really puts us to shame.

For about 65 Euros a month I had a access to the whole system which is about 92 CAD, Thats like saying I have GO, TTC and some other regional buses.

You then here about us making countless studies for x number of years to build what is going to be an a big diesel train that will take for ever to go to and from the airport and will probably run every hour.

Toronto has alot of work to do, but this is great news for Munich, just really do they need it?

 

[khris]

A video of the train and press release stuff:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpnsJ9UkTSk

 

[dowlingm]

We don't need maglev right now, the technology's not there yet unless like Germany you have a vested interest in it. We also don't need a maglev blue 22 or even a conventional blue 22 express.

We *could* use a VIA/GO station either at Woodbine connected with an LRT shuttle or as is proposed for PET/Dorval a heavy rail station on the airport grounds so the GO Georgetown and VIA Kitchener could serve the airport in both directions and take hundreds of cars off the airport highway interchanges. Maybe some of Dalton's hydrogen trains could run there

If Pearson hits 55 million at full build out, we're going to need heavy rail for 905ers, Eglinton LRT, 427 LRT, Jane LRT and every bus we can push through traffic to keep the 401/427/400 etc. from imploding, not just a Union-Pearson shuttle.