Progressive Management - 21st Century Maglev Train Technologies and High-Speed Rail Programs: Comprehensive Guide to Advanced Magnetic Levitation Technology, Benefits, and Advantages

21st Century Maglev Train Technologies andHigh-Speed Rail Programs: Comprehensive Guide to Advanced MagneticLevitation Technology, Benefits, and Advantages

Edition: Version 1.0 01/2011

U.S. Government, Federal RailroadAdministration (FRA), Department of Transportation

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Copyright 2011 Progressive Management

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U. S. Department of Transportation

Federal Railroad Administration

Executive Summary:

COSTS AND BENEFITS OF MAGNETIC LEVITATION

In response to a Congressional request tocompare the costs and benefits of magnetic levitation (Maglev) withthose of other modes, this report provides technical background onthis new form of transportation, identifies the types of travelmarkets that it could optimally serve, estimates its likely capitalcosts, and assesses the likely return in terms of transportationservice and economics on the commitment of resources that Maglevinvestments would require.

Maglev is an advanced transport technology inwhich magnetic forces lift, propel, and guide a vehicle over aspecially designed guideway. Utilizing state-of-the art electricpower and control systems, this configuration can reduce oreliminate the need for wheels and many other parts, therebyminimizing mechanical friction and permitting excellentacceleration, with cruising speeds on the order of 300 mph or more.Thus Maglev, if built on alignments that support its highestcapabilities, would provide:

Passenger comfort and convenience;

Matchless center-to-center travel times forcity-pairs in the 200-300 mile distance range for example, aboutone hour between midtown Manhattan and downtown Boston; and

Air-competitive trip times at longer tripdistances than other high-speed ground transportation systems.

Transrapid, a German company, has developed aMaglev technology that is in revenue service in Shanghai, China,where it links the city with its airport. Japan has developed atechnologically different system that has reached the point wheredecisions on its deployment can be made.

The United States has authorized, but notfunded for construction, a Magnetic Levitation TransportationTechnology Deployment Program (Maglev Deployment Program)that would demonstrate a relatively short (30-50 mile) Maglevsystem in commercial service. Projects are currently being plannedin four locations: Baltimore/Washington (MD-DC); Pittsburgh (PA);Las Vegas (NV)Anaheim (CA); and Los Angeles International Airport(LAX)Riverside (CA).

While the Presidents FY 2006 Budget (likethose for each year since the programs 1998 enactment) does notrequest funding for the Maglev Deployment Program, Congress hasmade a total of $70.6 available for Fiscal Years 1999 through 2005.The flow and uses of these funds have been as follows:

Annual Program Funding for All Projects

Distribution of Total Funds,

FY 1999FY 2005

Pennsylvania 28%

Maryland 19%

Nevada 13%

Administrative, R & D, Safety 12%

California 10%

Florida 6%

Georgia 6%

Louisiana 6%

Annual Program Funding for All Projects(Millions of Dollars)

FY 1999 $13.2

FY 2000 $17.4

FY 2001 $21.9

FY 2002 $4.6

FY 2003 $6.5

FY 2004 $5.0

FY 2005 $2.0

Maglev most aptly comes into comparison withthe other modes of high-speed ground transportation (HSGT):incremental and new high-speed rail (HSR). (Footnote 1) IncrementalHSR (IHSR) makes use of existing railways, upgraded for enhancedcapacities and top speeds in the range of 90 to 150 mph. (2) NewHSR, if implemented, (3) would provide service at speeds reaching175 to 200 mph on new alignments and trackage over most of itsdistance, while accessing city centers over improved legacyrailroads where appropriate. (Maglevs top speed, as mentionedabove, would be on the order of 300 mph.)

For the currently available Maglevtechnologies, the initial capital cost averaging some $40 to $100million per mile for the most recently-estimated projects exceedsthat of IHSR by a factor ranging from four-fold to nine-fold.Maglevs unit capital costs surpass those of New HSR by lesser, butstill significant, amounts, ranging from $11 to $19 million permile in recent studies. Thus, the Maglev technologies of today arethe most expensive form of HSGT in terms of up-frontinvestment.

1 This report also compares HSGT modes withair and highway transportation under specific rubrics, such astravel times.

2 The prime example of Incremental HSR isAmtraks Northeast Corridor between Boston, New York, andWashington. Other corridors that exceed the normative 79 mphrailway speed limit are New YorkAlbany, Los AngelesSan Diego, andshort segments of trackage in the Midwest that have benefited fromongoing train control development projects.

3 There is no New HSR operation in the UnitedStates. The most notable examples overseas are the JapaneseShinkansen, French TGV, and German ICE.

Conversely, Maglev could provide the highestaverage speeds and quickest station-to-station trip times availableby any public mode of land transportation. A potential one-hourlinehaul trip time between Boston and New York would be almost asfast as todays best scheduled airline times. (4)

To appraise Maglevs value, the FederalRailroad Administration (FRA) has adopted two approaches. First,since very high speeds on the ground are Maglevs chief claim tosuperiority, the transportation approach asks whether the traveltime impact of Maglev on the markets it can serve would suffice tojustify its cost. This approach is discussed on pages 19 to 25 ofthe Main Report and summarized in Box ES - 1, below. Second, theeconomic approach (addressed on pages 26 to 35 of the Main Reportand summarized in Box ES - 2) inquires whether the total benefitsto society of having Maglev in place counterbalance the associatedcosts.