76 Ë 3 Magnetic levitation
Fig. 3.5:Philip Holmer. Faster than a speeding bullet train: China is throttling up a 430-km/h
magnetically levitated train to link Shanghai and its airport [96].
and Germany are developing different types of normal-conductive Maglev trains. In
comparison with Germany’s Transrapid, Japanese HSST is actually an urban trans-
portation system with a relatively low-speed urban Maglev vehicle for the EMS. The
two systems are similar in the sense that they both use linear motors for propulsion
and electromagnets for levitation. However, the HSST is propelled by LIMs. The HSST
primary coils are attached to the carriage body and the secondary aluminum reaction
plates are on the track.
Japan Airlines began developing normal conductive Maglev HSST as a transporta-
tion system to provide high-speed access to airports in 1972. HSST-03 (50 seats) made
a demonstration run at the Tsukuba Science Expo from March to September 1985, and
610,000 passengers were transported. Fig. 3.6 shows a cross-section of the scheme for
the Japanese HSST system.