FINDING THE RIGHT TRACK

ASEE Prism, Dec 2004 by Craft, Lucille

TRANSPORTATION

THE WORLD'S fastest train is racing over steep grades and through tunnels on a short experimental track in central Japan. While backers of the exotic transit technology known as Magnetic Levitation (Mag Lev) struggle to find followers across the car-fixated United States, transportation experts in Japan are confident the ultrafast rail system will eventually make it off the drawing board and into commercial use.

It was Americans who invented a system of superconducting magnets to lift trains inches above their tracks and send them hurtling along a guideway. But it took the Japanese-creators of the enormously successful, high-speed Bullet Train-to perfect a floating train propelled by supercooled magnets. In effect, the Mag Lev "flies" at low altitude, zooming at speeds of up to 361 miles per hour. That's more than twice as fast as the Acela, America's quickest commuter train.

"The Mag Lev consumes only half as much energy as an airplane, and with only about one-quarter the carbon emissions," says Satoru Sone, professor of electrical engineering at Tokyo's Kogakuin University. "And for distances of 300 miles or less, traveling by Mag Lev actually saves time because you don't have to get to and from an airport. So it's definitely faster than a plane."

Building concrete guide ways, tunnels, and rolling stock for the levitated train system could hit a mind-boggling $90 billion, though researchers are struggling to trim billions by stretching out the snout to cut wind resistance, and massproducing parts. The national government hasn't yet decided to provide critical startup financing. But Japan's rail-friendly constituency seems predisposed to support the plan.

Given Japan's aging and shrinking population, and uncertain prospects for the economy ahead, some argue Japan doesn't need a Buck Rogers floating train. Mag Lev advocates-while conceding there's still no guarantee the system will ever be built-remain confident the project will stay on track.

"Around the world, man has always sought ways of getting from point A to point B quicker," says Noriyuki Shirakuni, manager of the Yamanashi Mag Lev Test Center. "So as long as mankind harbors a desire for faster travel, the Mag Lev's day will definitely dawn."

Japan's Mag Lev system is being studied in the United States. But if the Mag Lev is ever built, the only location on the planet sufficiently rich and crowded enough to support it may be the few hundred miles of real estate between Tokyo and Osaka, Japan's two biggest cities. If-and when-Japan decides to break ground on its futuristic train technology, the Mag Lev will take at least 10 years to complete. -LUCILLE CRAFT