01-28-2016, 10:11 PM
(01-28-2016, 06:27 PM)BuildingScout Wrote: I'm really puzzled by this. Isn't the main advantage of maglevs the lack of friction at high speeds? Maglevs have their space in the space of public transit solutions but urban transit doesn't seem to be it, to the best of my understanding.
Reduced (read: no) maintenance. The advantages of magnetic suspension are that all of the moving component maintenance of the below-floor hardware is completely eliminated. No track wear, no wheel bearings to replace, no wheels to regrind/shape, no traction motors to rewind, no gearboxes to lubricate and replace. The most complex moving part on the train is the door mechanism.
The track itself is "dumb", too - it is simply two inverted U-channels of steel and a flat aluminium reaction plate for the linear induction motor, so the track is no more complicated than a conventional railway. Sure, the levitation packs that wrap around the track have a lot of wire in the coils, but the winding is automated and no more complex than making a conventional electric motor.
Quote:Notice that this is too a vanity project, built for Expo 2005.
You use every chance you can to point out that when a project is built with good optics, it is somehow instantly disqualify from being valid. A shame, really. I feel sorry that your vision for the future is so... beige.