How many things were invented and designed in the USSR, that we still use these developments, and only learn about some (like I, for example, about this one). Either the times were like that all over the world, or the country was like that.
Also, many are accustomed to criticizing the fact that everything and everyone was planned in the USSR, but there was also something good in this. The Union has perfectly calculated the upcoming transport problems of metropolitan cities. And not only cities with a large population, but also cities that are geographically very elongated, whose length is a hundred kilometers or more. These are cities such as Volgograd and Krivoy Rog. According to the estimates of the 70s, the population in 29 cities of the Soviet Union was supposed to exceed a million, that is, become millionaire cities. And to solve the transport problems of large cities, various institutions and bureaus were created. Even then it was clear that cars are not very capable of solving the transport problem of a large city, and the classic metro is expensive and slow. It was believedthat along with the improvement of traditional modes of movement, it became necessary to create qualitatively new transport systems that should be low noise, do not pollute the air, economical and do not create an additional load on the street network.
These requirements were met by the latest innovative project brought to the test, the project of transport on a magnetic suspension.
The TA-05 car is a Soviet magnetic levitation train. The project of the vehicle, which was supposed to work on an electromagnetic levitation system, was developed in the period 1985 - 1986. On February 25, 1986, the first successful launch of an unusual car was carried out in the Moscow region.
“Our laboratory is working on an experimental passenger carriage that will move without touching the rails. For horizontal movement, the principle of operation of a linear three-phase asynchronous motor is used. Moving at a cruising speed of up to 250 kilometers per hour, this vehicle will be virtually silent. Its path can be raised to a flyover over the main thoroughfares of the city. One kilometer of track will cost 3-5 times cheaper than the metro,”said A. Chemodurov, head of the VNIIPItransprogress laboratory, in an interview.
At that time, a 600-meter high-speed section was built in Ramenskoye near Moscow, and sections in Yerevan and Alma-Ata were planned.
Promotional video:
It was planned to run cars on the tracks for 65 people, each 19 meters long and weighing 40 tons. The cruising speed of the car was 250 km / h, with the prospect of 400 km / h and more. There were also plans to launch not separate cars, but couplings from several cars, that is, full-fledged trains.
Today, the new type of transport does not have a responsible, interested owner. So far, not a single transport ministry, nor the Ministry of Civil Aviation, nor the Ministry of Railways (now Russian Railways) (a magnetoplane is not a train or an airplane - that is their argument), has shown interest in it. They are not even customers. Meanwhile, in order to effectively use the considerable funds allocated by the government for the transition from experiments to implementation at a new stage of development, it was necessary to unite forces, say, within the framework of an intersectoral scientific and technical complex.
What is especially surprising, but the project was financed exclusively by NefteGazStroy. Unfortunately, the plans did not come true, the earthquake in Armenia in 1988 did not allow the construction of all the planned sections. Funding was reduced, and after the collapse of the USSR, it was completely stopped. Fast, high-speed and its own turned out to be useless.
Who else knows any details about this project?
By the way, TP-05 managed to act in films - in the sci-fi short film of 1987 “They don’t joke with robots”, a fragment of which I offer you to watch.
Look at 01:03:00