MAG LEVS ON THE ENDANGERED SPECIES LIST???

[GoneWacko]

here's a translation from a dutch magazine 'KIJK':

Code: Select all

"Driving without hands"

It's not the first idea to offer people a comfortable way to get from A TO B and it won't be the last one either. But the minirapid, made by the german engineer Willi Eichholz IS a fun one.
Eichholz wants to expand the 'reachability'(don't know if that word exists :D) of cities by building leviated driving lanes and let small electric car's drive over those. The engineer thinks it's a lot cheaper to build a rail on which around 5000 Smarts or Lupo's can drive around completely computer steered. This is made possible by two 'lasereyes' that 'feel' the tracks, and a 'contact'(can't find a better word) to link the electro motor 
with the powernet.
Eichholz is especially starting his attack at TRANSRAPID, a Magnetic levitated train that possibly will start to drive between Düsseldorf and Dortmund. In an interview with the german magazine PM Eichholz says: "My computercabs will only cost one fifth of the 4,8 billion euro's that the transrapid is offered to develop. It's also a lot speedier." According to Eichholz the cabs can simply continue to drive whilst the Transrapid on the 80 kilometer's long road has to stop 5 times. With a max speed of 400 km/h (not miles an hour like in TTD - GW) the Transrapid is quick, but it wastes a lot of times at the stops. Eichholz' idea is being looked at by the German minister of trafic.
SOURCES: www.computer-taxi-bahn.de , PM Magazine

SO maybe the mag lev is on the endangered species list!!

I SURE HOPE NOT!!!

[Xeo]

i hope not, those Japanese MagLev-trains look so great

[spaceman-spiff]

it's not important to look at what is costs, we should invest in such projects
maglev are definitley the future for us

[Paranoid Android]

So are wormholes. Can't get faster than the speed of light...

[Observer]

So are wormholes. Can't get faster than the speed of light...

ROFLOL

[Paranoid Android]

Actually, it might go faster than the speed of light because you're breaking apart the space-time continuum and travelling through the 4th dimension or some claptrap like that.

[GoneWacko]

rrriiiiggghhhhtttt that's pretty much mrgreen worthy

[spaceman-spiff]

Any other fruitcakes here ?

[Observer]

BACK ON TOPIC... THIS REMINDS ME OF THE TOPIC I CREATED A FEW WEEKS AGO.
This was about the maglev and some tests they were doing with it.

Im not totally sure of maglev will be part of our future.. magnetism is very cool indeed but I think its hard to make switches ed.

[Paranoid Android]

Don't call me a fruitcake.

The reason I have always been skeptical about MagLevs. They are simply a train floating an a magnetic field pushed along by a fan or a rocket or something. (Probably not a rocket) So how do these things go round a corner? Magic?

[GoneWacko]

the float on magnetic fields AND are moved by them!!!

the magnets across the network each release a short burst of magnetic energy and the train is attracted to it!

Instead of being 'skeptical' about the turns of the train, you should be AMAZED that it's possible for a train to go around a turn whilst it's airborne!i!

[Paranoid Android]

Ah, right. But doesn't magnetism go out in all directions?

[spaceman-spiff]

Talking about wormholes is very normal i guess

[GoneWacko]

it depends... a magnet has a plus and a minus pole, just like electricity...

I'm sure you've seen 2 magnets... they can either get together or jump away from each other...

so It's not really in all directions no... but I think that a magnet does 'radiate' magnetism to 180 degrees from it's location...

[Paranoid Android]

Talking about wormholes is very normal i guess

Oh, stop being such a choad.

GW, you say magnets radiate 180*. Presumably, this is from each pole, making a field of 360*. This can be proved with a bar magnet and some skilfully-placed iron filings.

Hey, is my new signature cryptic enough or shall I add even more weird stuff?

[Observer]

You all got the wrong idea here.... the maglev train is in an magnetical field with the track beneeth it.. the train itself is a bit wrapped around the track (SEE THE PICS IN MY TOPIC ABOUT THIS)
When the track is in a curve the train will simply follow.....

[Arathorn]

To refresh your memories:

The two elektromagnets at the bottom make sure the train keeps in the air, and the two at the side make sure the train doesn't touch the track.
This is the test facility in Germany with curves, and they do ride it, so it works, in fact, in 19 days the first commercial maglev will make it's trips in Shanghai.


What's worse by the way, the Dutch gouvernment isn't going to make the Transrapid between Amsterdam and Groningen after all. They say they are going to improve the infrastructure by broadening roads instead...
Assholes.