The New Urban Transportation Requirement
Commuters
worldwide resist traveling over an hour to work or to a business
meeting. No existing conventional transportation system technology
can significantly reduce the commuting time for people working and
interacting in megalopolitan clusters, whether in the US Northeast
Corridor, Southern California, or even Paris-London.
The
commuting range of the automobile is limited to about 30 to 100
km, depending on traffic conditions. Air transport, even popular
and cost effective regional commuters, is still costly and vulnerable
to airport delays and ground access problems. High Speed Rail suffers
from high operating costs, is prone to station access limitations,
and is capacity constrained. Therefore none of these transportation
modes are able to transform a Boston - New York intercity
trip into an equivalent intracity commuting
trip as defined by cost (less than a cab ride), time (door to door
in less than 60 minutes), capacity (subway), and a high degree of
convenience.
An
alternative transportation system is required in the New Economy,
one that is faster and longer reaching than a car, subway or other
public transit, and more convenient, affordable, reliable, and accessible
than an airplane. In short, a new transportation system is needed
for the new emerging transportation market of the 21st Century.
The
Magplane Solutions
The
Magplane system is best able to provide intercity
commuting ranges at intracity commuting
times, fares, capacity levels and convenience. Magplane offers off-line
stations, elevated lightweight guideways, superior speed, capacity,
safety, reliability and maintainability, in an environmentally sustainable
manner. Magplane elevated guideways and off-line stations can more
readily be superimposed onto existing urban and regional communities
than any other high speed transport means.
The
Magplane system has been conceived to meet the transportation needs
of the new information age. A Magplane system, operating at speeds
of 400 km/h and with a station access and egress time of 45 minutes,
could cover about 320 km in one and a half hours. Therefore, the
prime market for Magplane service is one that current transportation
systems cannot serve: commuting distances greater than 60 to 120
km depending on traffic conditions, but less than 320 km. In this
process, the benefits for our metropolitan populations and our existing
transportation systems can be enormous.
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