4.3 LTS Maglev train Ë 93the LSM windings. The Canadian investigation was aimed at developing Maglev
vehicles for 480-km/h intercity transit along the Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal corridor in
the 1990s. The vehicles were intended to carry 100 passengers, weighing 30 tons and
levitated with 15 cm clearance by eight on-board superconducting magnets.
In the initial phase, the research program in the Germany covered the whole
variety of possible suspension techniques: air-cushion technique, permanent-
magnetic levitation (PMS), electrodynamic levitation (EDS), and electromagnetic
levitation (EMS). After careful consideration, they chose normal conductive EMS and
superconducting EDS versions [54–56].
The superconducting EDS system in the Germany was a circular test-track facility
in Erlangen with 280 m diameter and an inward obliquity angle of 45 degrees. The
17-ton test vehicle was 12 m long and levitated at a gap of 10 cm with a linear induc-
tion motor. The test vehicle achieved speeds of 230 km/h in 1976. In 1978, however,
they decided to abandon the superconducting EDS development and focus all of its
high-speed development efforts on normal conducting EMS systems.
In the late 1980s, under the support of the Ministry of Science and Technology
of the P. R. China, a national program was started to study the key technologies of
normal conducting EMS Maglev. In the middle of the 1990s, under the support of the
Ministry of Science and Technology, a program to establish contacts and academic
exchanges with Japanese colleagues about LTS EDS trains was started. A cooperative
feasibility study was conducted for a Shanghai-Hangzhou high-speed superconduc-
ting EDS Maglev line together with Japanese colleagues. Dr. Zhang from the Ministry
of Science and Technology presided over a meeting on the Shanghai-Hangzhou high-
speed Maglev train in Hangzhou University in November 26–28, 1996. The topic of
the meeting was the feasibility problem of a Shanghai-Hangzhou LTS Maglev train
line and to plan a China-Japan cooperative R&D. Experts from both countries and
officials in Zhejiang Province attended the meeting. China experts included Wen-Sen
Chang, Bing-Heng Shao, Jia-Su Wang, and the engineers from the Fourth Railway
Design Institute in China. In the early 1990s, the calculation and design of on-board
LTS magnets were done by Jia-Su Wang and Su-Yu Wang. Up to now, China has not
developed the LTS Maglev train.
4.3 LTS Maglev train
The superconducting EDS Maglev train in Japan is one of the most successful
applications of superconducting technology. Similar to the normal conductive EMS
Maglev train in Germany, Japan’s superconducting Maglev is the model for magnetic
suspension successfully applied in the field of transport.
In 1972, Japan National Railway made a test run of the LTS EDL Maglev test
vehicle ML-100. It was 7 m long, 2.5 m wide, 2.2 m high and weighed 3.5 tons. It
was propelled by a linear induction motor, which had a secondary on-vehicle and