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Going off track: How Britain invented the Maglev then let it slide
- kbutler 10y agoHaven't read the article yet, but I admire the title.
- beat 10y agoIt's maglev! It's not supposed to slide, it's supposed to float!
- DavidWanjiru 10y agoIt has to slide (more like roll along) before it can float, doesn't it? It doesn't take off like a chopper, you know?
- melling 10y agoNo mention of the low-speed maglev being built in Beijing: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2016-11/28/content_27504299.htm http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2016-11/28/content_275... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_S1,_BCR https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_S1,_BCR
- nannal 10y ago"Birmingham isn't like other British cities – it fetishises the technical and promotes the new." That's one potentially contestable way to view Birmingham
- UK-AL 10y agoBirmingham has a good history with technology. Look at the Lunar Society.
- robk 10y agoA hundred years ago maybe
- UncleSlacky 10y agoHere's Telly Savalas' point of view: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoHVO1eSMFc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoHVO1eSMFc
- gniv 10y agoThe question of why it didn't take off is answered in the article, albeit in parentheses: "(Maglev is indisputably more expensive upfront than high-speed rail.)"
- m-i-l 10y agoAlso mentioned: "The first time it snowed, all hell broke loose!" Although later on, the article alludes to the ingenious solution to this problem which was devised elsewhere in the world - enclose it in a tunnel. EDIT: Although according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maglev https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maglev "Maglev trains are little affected by snow, ice, severe cold, rain or high winds".
- jlebrech 10y agoM###ie T###cher
- mangecoeur 10y agoI know maglevs look cool and all, but there are quite practical reasons why they didn't pan out. One thing people tend to overlook is that regular rail lines are much more versatile. Regular rail can handle a variety of loads - the French high speed rail system also handles postal mail for instance. If you are building rail lines you already have a ton of kit that can use them - such as all the service machinery. Build a maglev and you can throw away all your expensive line maintenance vehicles.
- seanos 10y agoMagLev did pan out though, just not in Britain. For example, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Maglev_Train https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Maglev_Train
- wnevets 10y agodid it really pan out if there are so few of them?
- randomusr883 10y agoDepends on what you mean by "panned out". The tech works, but society isn't interested in trains since it was developed and matured. We pushed cars, freeways, etc. Not just in the US. Other countries followed along for their own reasons. It's like nuclear; the tech can work fine. We just don't have the interest. I blame lobbying against public utilities, personally. Decades of pro-privatization rhetoric, getting people to buy-in on their own vehicle, versus pub-trans.
- Chathamization 10y agoThe Shanghai Maglev isn't much more than a novelty at this point. Originally it was a somewhat useful way to travel to the airport instead of a bus, but now that the metro runs there that seems to be the better option (you don't have to deal with the maglev transfer or with buying another ticket). They had planned to extend it to Hangzhou, but the high speed rail between Shanghai and Hangzhou ended those plans.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- Etheryte 10y agoThe colorful intermediate text passages have so bad kerning that they're nigh impossible to read.
- moonbug 10y agoWhoever wrote that description of my home city evidently last visited in 1816.
- mattkevan 10y agoI thought it was funny recently that people were pleased Spielberg chose Birmingham as the perfect post-apocalyptic wasteland for shooting Ready Player One. http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/whats-on/film-news/look-steven-spielberg-turns-jewellery-11844767 http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/whats-on/film-news/look-stev... Not sure I would have been happy about that...
- mikebay 10y agoSpecially in Britain the Freedom of speech is in danger. I would like see more discussion about it.
- mattkevan 10y agoThe UK has a proud history of doing things and then failing to capitalise on it. Examples: • Black Arrow [0] - orbital satellite launcher, cancelled almost on the day of the first successful launch. • Miles M.52 [1] - could have beaten the Bell-X1 to supersonic flight by a year, if it hadn't been cancelled. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Arrow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Arrow [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_M.52 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_M.52