Word: maglev
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...formidable alternative to both the auto and airplane is coming: the magnetic-levitation train, or maglev. Supported and propelled by the force of powerful electromagnets, the streamlined maglev could reach speeds of 300 m.p.h. or more. West Germany and Japan are developing prototypes based on different operating systems. One proposed high-speed maglev route in the U.S. is a 230-mile-long link between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, a five-hour auto trip that the maglev could cover in about 70 minutes...
...decision on the Los Angeles-Las Vegas line is due in 1989, when a 16- member commission will announce whether Transrapid or a conventional rail builder will receive the contract for the fast track to the gaming tables. No American company is expected to submit a maglev plan. Although the U.S. had a maglev project under way until 1975, federal austerity measures turned off the electromagnets. At least one politician, Democratic Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York, wants funding for research resumed, but congressional action is not expected before next year...
Despite the absence of a homegrown maglev, enthusiasm in the U.S. is running high for the Transrapid, which would cut travel time between Los Angeles and Las Vegas from five hours by car to 70 minutes by train. Ironically, the Japanese trading company C. Itoh & Co. has pledged to help arrange the $2.5 billion in financing that the West Germans would need to build the California- to-Nevada link. Reason: C. Itoh is Transrapid's agent in Japan and is pondering the possibility of building that system at home...
Even if Transrapid is not awarded the casino-express contract, maglev technology is already on its way to the U.S. Magnetic Transit of America, a subsidiary of West Germany's Daimler-Benz, broke ground in downtown Las Vegas last January for a slower-speed -- 50 m.p.h. -- maglev urban-transit system. Completion of the initial 1.3-mile segment of the Las Vegas People Mover is planned for 1991 -- perhaps a good year for dating the beginning of the maglev...
TECHNOLOGY: All aboard the maglev, the levitating, hyperfast train of the future...