Soup of the Day

MyUK : Transport : Appendix A

As a follow up to the MyUK : Transport article posted earlier, I thought it would be appropriate to introduce the Siemens/ThyssenKrupp Transrapid Maglev mass transit system for the uninitiated.

To the right is a picture of the Chinese Transrapid system that connects Shanghai International Airport with Shanghai, 35 kilometres away. With such a short stretch of track, the trains only reach their 450km/h peak speed for a couple of seconds.

The world is finally turning onto Maglev (Magnetic Levatation) as a viable alternative to wheels on rail, a system we have relied on for over 150 years. Conventional trains are prone to wear and tear as they have motors and systems that have a vast number of parts, many of them moving. Maglev brings mass transportation into the digital age.

In a traditional locomotive, the train will have wheels, brakes and at least one motor. As the years have progressed the technology has improved but the mechanisms have remained the same. Trains wear out their parts and the tracks they run on, so running a railway is a full time maintenence job.

Maglev’s totally rewrite the way we think of motive technology. Firstly the motor which drives the train is not on the train, but in the track. Transrapid uses a Linear Motor, first developed in the UK. A Linear Motor has no moving parts, using a magnetic field traversing electromagnetic coils laid into the guideway. Essentially, a Transrapid train is pushed by the track rather than the train propelling itself. But importantly, a Linear Motor has no moving parts, so there is no wear and tear of the motor. The train has no contact with the guideway either, floating 20mm above the track, so there is no wear and tear of the train either. In event of a powerfailure, a Transrapid train would continue to hover as the train contains emergancy batteries allowing the train to safely come to a halt before finally resting on the track.

Transrapid trains are entirely computer controlled with no need for any onboard staff for operation of the driving functions of the train. Potentially a Transrapid train can be completely staff free, however most countries will want customer care staff aboard the train. In China, a train engineer is employed although they a not needed and it seems that this position was created for polical reasons rather than for systematic reasons. This in turn makes running a Transrapid network cost-effective, after the initial investment.

The computer controlled network deployed by Transrapid also introduces a number of other advantages:

1. No signals along the trackside
   Less overall maintenence costs
2. Computer controlled train management
   This creates dynamic blocks that allow trains to run within 2 minutes of each other at over 500km/h. The system potentially could allow services to couple (join together) whilst in motion, although this hasn’t been tested and would require much investigation to as whether this functionality would provide any real benefit over stationary coupling.
3. Accurate running information for passengers and staff
   Whether on the platform or over the internet. Train times and running information will be updated with to-the-second estimates of arrival/departure times. Moreover, trains will always run on time and arrive within 6 seconds of their designated arrival time.
4. Overall safety and performance improvements
   In the unlikely event that a train breaks down, or the guideway motor fails, the computer system will automatically re-manage services on that line, efficiently re-routing services to share a section of line avoiding the train that is trapped. Passengers will barely notice the disruption and delays would be minimised. Meanwhile, a rescue train would automatically be dispatched to collect the stranded passengers while engineers fix the problem.

There are a number of other obvious advantages over current TGV type highspeed networks; Speeds that almost double the current fastest operation speeds, is just one. However, Transrapid is not without its disadvantages over conventional high speed rail;

1. No integration with existing routes
   Transrapid trains and guideways cannot utilise existing routes directly without converting the tracks to the Transrapid system. TGV and similar systems can use existing railways with no modification to the infrastructure. Transrapid trains would require their own tracks throughout and in some cases their own stations, although they could share existing stations (with some modifications) in most cases.
2. High initial investment
   The cost associated with building and deploying a Transrapid system is very high. The technology is relatively new, although thoroughly tested, making the parts expensive to manufacture. The guideways are relatively fast to erect, China completed their 35km line in two years from start of build to first running service. At present costs, each mile of Transrapid guideway is about 16 times the cost of a mile of convential rail. However, it must be noted that the operating costs are much lower.
3. Loss of transport workers jobs
   As with most computer controlled systems, the Transrapid does not require a driver and engineers are all based in a central control centre, only dispatched if a problem occurs with the train. This means less jobs, which means less operating cost, although is detrimental to the economy. There will be a lot of high-technology jobs created by the system, but lower grade jobs will be lost. Any government should operate a training program to convert existing train drivers to certified Siemens/ThyssenKrupp Transrapid engineers.

I was never a big fan of the idea of Maglev because of its very high cost and the fact I am fond of the current TGV network that Europe is building. However the UK is never going to be able to effectively build a new network of Highspeed Lines like europe as the costs would be too high. However, with Maglev a new oppertunity arises to start again and to build a much better system for a much higher cost, but future proofing our transport network for another 150 years at least.

I think that a UK Maglev line from London running up the spine of the UK would be the best investment in the people by the British government. If we can prove it can be done, then we can export our knowledge to other interested countries.