The maglev 8 minute train ride from Shanghai to the airport is a great idea. The train looks super streamlined, is extremely comfortable to ride and is so fast the countryside blurs as the train zips by ABOVE the tracks. (NY Times p. A4 today)

This great idea has few takers for the ride to the airport from the city is about the same price as a taxi ride but door to door is preferable even if the traffic is horrible and the time it takes is so much more onerous. The price for the train ride dropped from ten dollars (equivalent) to six dollars to entice more riders but still there are too few to justify the expense of creating such a system.

The “maglev” idea is an old one.  I remember the experiment with magnets of opposing poles where instead of attraction and holding tight, the magnets repelled each other and one could actually hover above the other.  This small but significant discovery took years to develop into the first hovering (due to magnetic levitation) train that did not depend on rails to control the direction the “tracks”. The ride is remarkably smooth. In traditional trains metal runs on metals and there is a lot of metallic dust as well as noise and bouncing about. Maglev can go over two hundred miles per hour safely with the passengers riding in comfort practically noiselessly. 

One wonders why it has not replaced the steam, diesel and electric trains that still roam the millions of miles of track in the world.  The reason is simply that even if it is great idea, the investment in the older systems is too great to be replaced with a new system unless the old investors can be persuaded that the cost of instituting a new one is justified.  Old time owners of businesses rarely are comfortable with new things that promise new profits for they are used to old ways and the old ways of making money. This is in the face of evidence that their loyalty to these old ways will not continue to be profitable.  The rail system of the nineteenth century still exists on land that no longer sees rail traffic. Roads and highways flow beside these and the highway systems currently in use have the bulk of the traffic that goes in all directions today.  It is economically reasonable to use new roads to go to new places as long as gasoline burning vehicles can prove to do the job. This is in question as the supply of oil is finite and is being used up at a rapid pace with prices to match.

The magnetic levitating system is as valid as the vacuum system advocated in 1887 by Edward Bellamy in his description of what the future world might look like. He predicted the transmission of symphonic music over telephone lines and that transportation of goods would be by vacuum transit lines from manufacturer to consumer. We see these vacuum tubes in banks and checkout counters today. Instead of these, people chose cars to get to stores. There are great ideas and it is interesting to see who the takers are. Maglev is a great idea.