The Magplane Concept

The Magplane concept has been developed in response to the rapidly growing new market for a transportation system that can effectively link metropolitan regions together into an interactive urban system.
 

The most important Magplane characteristics which serve this growing market are:
 
  • A drive system which results in superior acceleration, making high average speed and reduced trip time compatible with multiple stops.
  • A guideway and control system which allows a high traffic density of individual vehicles to travel and to enter and exit from conveniently located off line stations.
  • A suspension system which is compatible with light weight guideways and tight radius curves; features which greatly facilitate elevated construction in urban areas.
 
 

The need for this new intracity transportation approach grows out of the changing nature of work in the information age and the distribution of employment activities throughout and beyond the limited confines of the metropolis.
 

This new transportation network will also connect dispersed suburban clusters with the city center and will provide effective intermodal connections to air, subways, ports and private vehicles. The system will transport a large volume of people and priority freight with reduced trip times that will significantly increase labour productivity and quality of life. The Magplane can link nodes within a 400 km range from the urban center with trip times of about one hour
 

These attractive characteristics result from the unique configuration of magnetic systems used in the Magplane system. The previous art of magnetic suspension systems, already well developed in Germany and Japan, has been aimed at a very different and much smaller market, namely the extension of the high end of intercity high speed rail. Previous maglev design choices which were optimized for intercity travel are very different from the Magplane design choices which are optimized for the expanded new intracity market.