High Temperature Superconducting Magnetic Levitation

3.3 Developments in railway traflc Ë 63

Tab. 3.1:Ground rail transit speed.

Dates Categories Types Speeds (km/h) Countries

2015, 04, 12 LTS Maglev MLX-01 603 Japan
2003, 12, 02 LTS Maglev MLX-01 581. 7 Japan
2007, 04, 03 HSR TGV 574. 8 France
1999, 04, 14 LTS Maglev MLX-01 552 Japan
1997, 12, 12 LTS Maglev MLX-01 531 Japan
1979, 12, 21 LTS Maglev MLL-500 517 Japan
1990, 05, 18 HSR TGV 515. 3 France
2003, 11, 12 NC Maglev TR07 501 China
2010, 09, 28 HSR CRH380 486. 1 China
1989, 12, 05 HSR TGV 482. 4 France
1996 HSR Shinkansen Bullet Train 443 Japan
1988, 01, 22 NC Maglev TR06 412. 6 Germany
1988, 05, 01 HSR ICE 406. 9 Germany
1976, 02, 19 NC Maglev TR04 401. 3 Germany
1981, 02, 26 HSR TGV 380 France
1955, 03, 29 HSR BB 9004 331 France
1972, 12, 08 HSR TGV Turbo 318 France
1938, 07, 03 Railway Mallard 202. 6 Britain

Tab. 3.2:Comparison of Maglev and wheel-rail systems.

Maglev system Wheel-rail system

Speed >500 km/h <350 km/h
Vibrations No mechanical contact, weak Contact between wheels and rails, relatively strong
Noise 60–65 dB 75–80 dB
Safety No possibility of derailment Derails from a minor defect
Guideway Light vehicle & distributed
load→light-weight

Heavy & concentrated load→hardy structure

Maintenance Very little Periodic replacement of wheels, gears, rails, etc.
Grade About 80–100 About 30–50
Curve In 30 m in radius In 150 m in radius

One of the ultra-high-speed transport systems is the LTS Maglev train in Japan. On
December 21, 1979, the prototype ML-500 test train reached an unmanned speed of
517 km/h on a 7-km track, which proved the tremendous potential of Maglev trains
for high speed. Also, when two trains going in opposite directions passed at the
same time, a relative speed of 1026.3 km/h was recorded on November 16, 2004. The
maximum speed attained was 603 km/h on April 21, 2015, which verified that this
system had enough capability in high-speed operation.
Powell [14] compared the energy efficiency per passenger mile by Maglev, automo-
biles, and airplanes. The Maglev energy consumed per passenger-kilometer is lesser