NAMTI's website hosts the world's most comprehensive collection of information on both high- and low-speed magnetic levitation (maglev) transport.
This is not an industry supported organization, but rather a third party, non-profit organization of former internationally recognized maglev industry officials, engineers, and scientists who are committed to dispelling the several outdated myths regarding maglev transport technology; most notably, the ill-informed claims that maglev is still "unproven technology" or "too costly." Of course, the costly high-maintenance, high-speed rail industry only benefits from perpetuating negative perceptions of very low-maintenance and faster maglev transport.
This website was created to counter such disinformation with irrefutable and verifiable evidence. Through the use of video, photographs, data, reports, professional papers and informed commentary from actual U.S. and overseas maglev industry experts, NAMTI is committed to providing quantifiable evidence of maglev's superior operating performance. In addition, we will share with you the latest cost effective manufacturing and construction techniques and show why all maglev technologies have dramatically lower maintenance requirements and costs.
High-speed maglev transport technology, in particular, enables very safe, high-speed transport with the lowest life cycle costs of any high-speed transportation system ever developed. This is, and should be, the compelling core reason for deploying maglev in North America rather than traditional high-maintenance passenger rail systems – regardless of their speed.
If you are interested in maglev transport and want to learn more, check out the many layers of information on this content rich site.
Electric Powered, Electronically Controlled Flight
Maglev (magnetic levitation) transport is not rail technology and, other than looking like some sort of fast train, has little in common with high speed rail. Maglevs are more akin to jets without wings than trains with without wheels – and, are safer to ride at high speeds because incidents are simply less likely due to unique and robust elevated guideway designs that make derailments virtually impossible at all speeds.
Maglev transport is actually electric-powered, electronically controlled, low level flight of a vehicle that is wrapped around or enveloped by a dedicated and (usually) elevated guideway, which enables extraordinarily high levels of reliability (99.97% to the second) for arrivals and departures.
The maglev and its guideway actually comprise one long flat electric motor without bearings (bearings are the most frequent failure point of an electric motor). Substituting magnetic levitation for bearings is the key to a maglev system's low maintenance requirements, longevity, financial sustainability, superior acceleration and very high speeds. Think about your laptop processor cooling fan – if it is really quiet, the fan is using magnetic levitation instead of bearings.
The computer-controlled operations of maglev vehicles (constant two-way microwave communications between the main computer and the vehicles to control speed, with the addition of continual maintenance feedback on guideway anomalies/alignment) also requires no separate signalling technology, dramatically reduces manual track inspection and eliminates maglev-to-maglev crashes by maintaining "dead tracks" between all vehicles on any given line. Friction plays no elemental roll in acceleration or deceleration, which therefore enables sustained climbing of steep inclines at speed and allows for safe all-weather travel.
The compelling business case for maglev transport is that these systems can be deployed in reasonably busy corridors and have their operations and maintenance costs covered by the farebox – without the need for annual taxpayer subsidies. We call this "farebox sustainable." This is due mostly to the non-contact nature of the technology, which eliminates the onerous "speed/maintenance penalty" (i.e., the faster the speed of a train, the higher the frequency and cost of maintenance). To our knowledge, there is no transit system in the United States that is farebox sustainable. In a time of severe budgetary shortfalls, federal, state, and local governments need to re-examine their opinions about the "high" costs of maglev transport technology, for these systems have much lower life cycle costs when compared to all other existing forms of transit in the U.S.
Three decades ago, maglev transport technology was placed under the jurisdiction of the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), a low-speed rail safety agency. This was a huge mistake. Doing so was akin to putting aerospace technology under the jurisdiction of the Postal Service. NAMTI believes this technology/personnel/mission mismatch is a major reason why the technology has languished in the U.S. these many years. Since public transport is very much influenced by politics, reassigning maglev to a new domain should be a new Congressional priority; that is, if Congress wants to see this advanced ground transportation technology deployed and built in America.
Who Is NAMTI?
NAMTI was created as a reliable resource for accurate information regarding advanced maglev technology and was not created by or for any particular manufacturer. The people behind NAMTI are scientists, engineers, and transportation professionals who have decades of experience in high-speed rail, maglev and aerospace engineering.
Our view is that the sooner America deploys a maglev transport system, the sooner it can start to become competitive in the international high-speed ground transportation market. In other words, we advocate maglev development and deployment as a means to create thousands of good paying high-tech jobs in America that will never be in jeopardy from the inferior 40-year old traditional train technology being peddled on Capitol Hill today by foreign train manufacturers.
At this time, America has an antiquated passenger rail system and a passenger rail manufacturing industry that doesn't really exist, so there is little potential for an export market. However, precisely because America's passenger rail system is so antiquated, it has the golden opportunity to leap-frog old train technology being deployed elsewhere in the world (such as all over China), and which are being considered for several fast train corridors in the U.S.
The fact that China always maintained a vibrant passenger rail network is a big reason they decided to upgrade their entire network using traditional rail technology. This familiarity with rail technology is one reason why they chose not to deploy maglev systems much beyond Shanghai. The 2011 Wenzhou train crash and derailment, however, should have the Chinese re-examining their decision not to deploy maglev for high speed service, since maglev operations eliminate the possibility of two maglevs on the same line crashing into one another and its design eliminates the possibility of derailments – newly recognized by many Chinese as extremely worthwhile safety characteristics.
To be sure, NAMTI is not being overly critical of the Chinese. After all, it was China that built the world's first commercial high-speed maglev line in Shanghai. There is also a Chinese designed low-speed maglev (6-kilometer east-west S-1 Line) under construction in Beijing. By contrast, nothing has been done in the U.S. in spite of millions of dollars being spent on "studies" over the last 20 years. Studies are no substitute for the action of real projects. The good news is that the market is still open for maglev development and deployment in North America.
If North America's political leaders open their minds and stop listening to rail manufacturers and their promises of new green manufacturing jobs, North America can have a superior intercity transportation network.
Never mentioned by rail advocates, much less discussed, is the subject of the intensive and frequent maintenance requirements of rail systems – regardless of speed! High operations and maintenance (O&M) costs are the main obstacle to profitable rail operations and a major reason for annual taxpayer subsidies, a serious technology flaw not shared by maglev.
The discussion in the press and punditry is only about initial capital costs and sufficient ridership numbers. Never do life cycle costs, which includes maintenance and system longevity (robustness), figure into the calculus of these seemingly weighty discussions. At present, the high maintenance costs of fast mechanical steel-wheel-on-steel-rail systems is the 800 pound gorilla in U.S. DOT's plan for bringing fast trains to America. It is the states, and their future generations, that will get stuck with the costs for feeding that gorilla.
With higher maintenance costs, come the pressure for higher passenger fares. Just ask any Washington, DC Metro rider (Metro only hits 60 mph (100 km/h) on its fastest runs) about the fair increases, frequent breakdowns, degrading ride quality, service delays, and canceled service during snow storms. By the way, Metro is heavily subsidized in spite of its excellent ridership.
The public understands what is at stake because they are the ones paying the fares, using the systems, and subsidizing the O&M. Unfortunately, the vision and discussions by our leadership is seriously lacking. The focus needs to be on how to deliver systems that dramatically improve speed, reliability, and efficiency of inter- and intra-city transport in all weather conditions, while also being more affordable and sustainable. This is how ridership and financial feasibility is ensured.
Maglev is the proven answer and it is available now.
What Is Maglev?
First of all, maglevs are not trains. Maglev transport is not mechanically-based, maintenance-intensive railroad technology, nor is it high-speed rail (HSR),or what we at NAMTI prefer to call fast High-Maintenance Rail (HMR)
High-speed maglev transport (HSM) is non-mechanical electric-powered Electronic Transportation Technology (ETT). Maglev requires no-contact (friction) for braking and propulsion and that makes it perfect for very safe, all-weather, high-speed transport for intercity travel and/or airport connectors
Low-speed maglev (LSM) systems are extremely well-suited for low-speed (60 mph), quiet, all-weather, ultra-reliable urban transport.
Both these modes have several radical improvements over existing mechanically-based rail transit systems, not the least of which is dramatically lower maintenance requirements – the single biggest headache for every transit system in the world. Maglev systems simply have the lowest life cycle costs of any fast mode of transport and are the quintessential definition of sustainable transport.
This site serves several functions:
- To provide a basic introduction to the general principles of magnetic levitation for commercially ready-for-deployment maglev systems; including, systems that employ superconducting electro-magnetic repulsion levitation methods and systems that employ electro-magnetic attraction methods.
- To provide detailed technical aspects of the various maglev systems shown, including initial capital costs, infrastructure longevity, O&M costs, and dramatically lower life cycle costs (LCC).
- To show the North American population and its leadership which maglev systems are ready for commercial deployment now and have dramatic advantages in lower maintenance requirements, all-weather reliability and low operational costs that render our existing mechanically-based rail transit systems obsolete.
These activities will be supported by papers written by maglev transportation engineers and other professionals. Plus, there will be many uploads of rarely seen videos of overseas commercial maglevs in operation, photographs (be sure to notice the drop down menus) and other visual aids that will quickly demonstrate the quantum leap forward we would realize over our present oil-reliant, mechanically-based, transportation system – if and when we start to deploy non-contact electronic maglev transport instead of the old mechanical and maintenance intensive systems our governments insist on deploying.
We hope to convey the transformative impact that ultra-reliable, all-weather, frictionless maglev transport systems will have on the North American economy. For example, real estate development will explode around new stations that service ultra-reliable maglev travel and be a boon to local job creation. Destinations plagued by heavy snowfall that brings wheeled transport to a standstill and shuts down airports, need never again leave intercity travelers stranded or the community isolated from the outside world.
Then there are also the environmental benefits of maglev. Not only does maglev transport itself impart an extremely low environmental impact, but its successful deployments around the country will mean a lessening of the environmental impacts of the dirty carbon transport systems it supplants, such as regional airlines that have no pollution controls whatsoever. Plus, there is no salting needed for ice-slick guideways. Maglevs are simply free from all the limits of friction-based transport.
NAMTI editorials run periodically and address not only technical issues, but also the present state of transportation politics in North America; which we would categorize presently as disappointing at best, and outright obstructionist at worst. Often times, the truth is not pretty.
For those who want to learn more about the many overlying factors that affect maglev deployment in North America, this website provides much of the latest information on various maglev technological developments, progress of international maglev deployment projects, and our perspective on maglev's potential contribution to North America's transportation system, as well as the difficulties of deploying a disruptive electronic transportation technology (ETT) into a mechanically driven, oil-reliant transportation system.
Maglev Myths Busted
Here are ten basic facts about maglev transport:
- Maglev transport is not mechanical, High-Maintenance Rail technology (HMR)
- Maglev is not just one technology; there is more than one way to magnetically levitate a vehicle
- Maglev systems are long electric motors – the vehicles and guideways (tracks) are interdependent and comprise the two basic elements of an electric motor with no need for bearings or grease
- There are low-speed maglevs for local/medium distance urban transport and there are high-speed maglevs for inter-city transport and airport connectors
- Maglev is not "too expensive" to build, operate and maintain and is now actually less costly to deploy and operate than HMR and much more cost effective
- Maglev has non-contact, frictionless operations which allows inherently super low maintenance and low life cycle costs, regardless of weather conditions
- Maglev’s non-contact propulsion and braking mean low noise operation
- “Proven" maglev systems are in commercial operation in Nagoya, Japan (March 2005) and Shanghai, China (March 2004) and both systems operate with a 99.97% on time – to the second – schedule reliability due to precise computer controlled operations
- Maglev systems can operate on steeper grades in all-weather conditions with unchanged schedule reliability
- High-Speed Maglev (HSM) systems are vastly superior to all traditional (regardless of speed) rail in acceleration, braking, safety, noise levels, all-weather operations, infrastructure longevity/sustainability, maintenance and now, construction costs and speed of construction
Be sure to check this site often as the information will change and/or be updated frequently. We truly hope you come away from here with a better understanding of how this technology works and how strategic maglev deployments can vastly improve transportation options for the people of North America, while also vastly improving the transportation experience for travelers.
January 24th, 2011 at 1:56 PM
wheres your system map?!?!?
January 24th, 2011 at 3:48 PM
What good is a map without a key?
Hint: Look in papers and presentations, 6th entry down. Read it to find the key… and the map.
Honestly, our priority is the construction of a first revenue producing link between two cities before we can have a network, or a map of one.
February 7th, 2011 at 2:40 PM
Great site. There's more useful maglev-related information here than on just about any other site I've seen, and frankly, there aren't that many informative maglev sites to choose from…I especially like the video section.
April 21st, 2011 at 2:15 AM
Thank you for the maglev versus train comparisons. While trying, but failing, to persuade local officials in Honolulu to allow the Nagoya HSST to compete for the O'ahu rail project, I continue my efforts to inform local people about "what might have been." I believed that the HSST would not only have been a strong contender but, in a fair competition, would have been able to win the contract on both cost and operational effectiveness criteria. Your comparison chart will be helpful in the future. The first U.S. maglev implementation will not be in Hawaii but perhaps we will see a "beefed up" HSST someday on the I-70 corridor in Colorado.