oynihan, Daniel Patrick,Scientific American - Letters to the Editor (Feb98)).Current funding in the production of maglev systems have kept the dream alive. According toScientific Americans - Maglev: Racing to Oblivion, Germany has receive federal and privatefunding to build a maglev train system from Hamburg to Berlin. It wants the technology as asymbol that the reunited nation remains an innovator - and to quell questions about why it has notbuilt a commercial maglev inside its own borders while trying to sell these flying trainsabroad(Stix, Gary; Scientific American - Maglev: Racing to Oblivion). Research is also beingconducted by large aeronautical groups such as Boeing and Macdonald Douglas. CurrentlyDouglas is employing Hundreds of workers and engineers to work on the new designs and whenproduction starts has the possibilities of hiring thousands.Scientists and engineers are constantly working to solve the mysteries of the maglev and itappears as though the light at the end of the tunnel is in sight. Dr. Richard Post and Dr. KlausHalbach are working on a maglev train the runs on permanent magnets. Currently maglev trainsare run by electromagnets but with their newly found process, maglev trains would run on muchstable permanent magnets. Normally just a Permanent magnet could not support the weight ofthe train but using a process called Indutrack. ...by using the right arrangement of Halbacharrays, the train can be made self-stabilizing so that, short of an earthquake, it will never fall offthe track...According to Dr. Posts calculations, Indutrack should be extremely efficient at highspeed. It will, he claims, have a lift-to-drag ration eight times better than a jet airliners, with aconsequent saving in energy(A Permanent Solution?, The Economist 10/31/98).As technology for maglev trains increases the potential use of maglev train systems will greatlyout-weighs conventional train lines. We have seen that maglev trains are...
