Level: Wise
December 31, 19:19 The maglev train is the most fundamental breakthrough in railway technology since the advent of Stephenson's "Rocket" steam locomotive about 200 years ago. The maglev train seems to be a new thing today, but in fact its theoretical preparation has a long history. Research on magnetic levitation technology originated in Germany. As early as 1922, German engineer Hermann Kemper proposed the principle of electromagnetic levitation and applied for a patent for a maglev train in 1934. After entering the 1970s, as the economic strength of the world's industrialized countries continued to strengthen, in order to improve transportation capabilities to meet the needs of their economic development, developed countries such as Germany, Japan, the United States, Canada, France, and the United Kingdom began to plan maglev transportation systems. development. The United States and the former Soviet Union abandoned this research plan in the 1970s and 1980s respectively. Currently, only Germany and Japan continue to conduct research on magnetic levitation systems, and both have made remarkable progress. The following is a brief introduction to the research on maglev railways in major countries.
Japan began research on permanent maglev railways in 1962. Since then, due to the rapid development of superconducting technology, research on superconducting maglev railways began in the early 1970s. In 1972, the first successful experiment of a 2.2-ton superconducting maglev train was carried out, reaching a speed of 50 kilometers per hour. In December 1977, on the Miyazaki Maglev Railway test line, the maximum speed reached 204 kilometers per hour, and by December 1979, it was further increased to 517 kilometers per hour. In November 1982, the manned test of the maglev train was successful. In 1995, the maximum speed of the manned maglev train reached 411 kilometers per hour during the test. In order to conduct a feasibility study on building a maglev railway between Tokyo and Osaka, the construction of the Yamanashi Maglev Railway test line was started in 1990. The first phase of the 18.4-kilometer-long test line was completed in 1996.
Germany’s research on maglev railways began in 1968 (then Federal Republic of Germany). In the early days of research, equal emphasis was placed on normal conductivity and superconductivity. By 1977, test vehicles of the normally conductive electromagnet attraction type and the superconducting electromagnet repulsion type were developed respectively. The maximum speed during the test reached 400 kilometers per hour. Later, after analysis and comparison, it was concluded that the technical level required for superconducting maglev railways was too high and it would be difficult to achieve great progress in the short term. Therefore, it was decided to focus only on the development of permanent conduction maglev railways in the future. In 1978, it was decided to build a 31.5-kilometer test line in Emsland. Construction started in 1980, and unmanned testing began in 1982. The maximum test speed of the train reached 300 kilometers per hour at the end of 1983, and was further increased to 400 kilometers per hour in 1984. At present, Germany’s technology in research on permanent maglev railways has become mature.
Compared with Japan and Germany, the UK’s research on maglev railways started relatively late, only starting in 1973. However, the UK is one of the first countries to put maglev railway into commercial operation. In April 1984, a 600-meter-long maglev railway between Birmingham Airport and Internazionale Station was officially opened to traffic. It only takes 90 seconds for passengers to take the maglev train from Birmingham Airport to Internachonnar Station. Regrettably, in 1995, this maglev train, once the only commercially operated maglev train in the world, was declared out of business after 11 years of operation, and its mission of transporting passengers was replaced by airport shuttles.