Maglev Consequences Essay -- essays research papers

Maglev Consequences Magnetically levitated ground transportation, or "maglev," is an advanced mode of surface high speed transportation whereby a vehicle gliding above a guide track is suspended, guided, and propelled by magnetic forces. Because they never touch the guide track causing friction, maglev vehicles can be designed to travel at extremely high speeds, 500 kilometers per hour (300 miles per hour), or more! Americans traveled 3.2 trillion passenger kilometers (2 trillion passenger miles) by car, truck, bus, and public transit, and 9.8 billion passenger kilometers (6.1 billion passenger miles) on Amtrak. As populations have grown the traditional systems have become stressed. Congestion on highways and at airports not only wastes time and fuel and increases pollution, but constrains mobility to the extent that economic growth and productivity are adversely affected. Increased demand. Between 1980 and 1990, with deregulation and consumer demand for fast inner-city travel leading to lower airline fares, commercial air traffic has increased by 56 percent. Adding to the congestion and delay is increased commuter and regional air traffic. Those short distance flights take valuable landing slots that could be used for larger planes on more profitable, longer flights. With the maglev vehicles the shorter trips excluding access time can be cut a lot. With a study of 16 major ...