Maglev train idea for Northeast resurfaces

[happyslug]

11. England had one, from 1984 to 1995, closed it down no spare parts,

Last edited Sat Nov 2, 2013, 09:56 PM - Edit history (1)

In 1995 the system was closed down do to a lack of spare parts, It was replaced by buses and then a cable based system (a computer run modern cable car system as in San Francisco but limited to one car at a time),

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maglev

Now the system that replaced the MAGLEV is called a "Cable Line" system. In a San Francisco Cable Car system, a cable runs underneath the road bed at a constant speed all the time. A operator is on the cable car and when the operator wants the car to stop, the Operator first disengages the cable by releasing the grip that holds onto the cable when the car is moving. At the same time the operator engages the brakes and brings the car to a stop. When the operator wants to restart, he uses his controls for the car grip mechanism to re-grab the cable, while the operator releases the brakes. The downside of such system is they tend to be slow about 15-25mph. The upside they can go up almost any steep hill that other vehicles would have a tough time climbing (one of the reason Cable Cars survived in San Francisco was buses could NOT climb those same hills at any where near the same speed as the cable cars while stopping to pick up and leave off passengers).

Now the cable liners are similar, but different. First they have no operator inside the car. Second the cable hauling the car is permanently attached to the car. Third, the cable does NOT run constantly, it stops whenever the operator, in most cases a computer, wants (or more accurately is programed where) the car to stop. Interesting concept for transportation between two stops, useless if you want to operate more then one or two cars on a route (The article below mentions how a two car and even a three car system could work, but in most situation if you need more then two cars you need a lot more and thus the Cable Liner system is not variable).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_Liner