The beginning-middle of the last century amazes with the flight of technical thought and faith in technical progress. The new, unknown attracted and attracted people. I came across some interesting material that is almost 90 years old: the article was published in the October 1931 issue of Modern Mechanix.
"Air" trains traveling at tremendous speed from city to city, propelled solely by electromagnetic lines of force, is a new and startling method of rapid transportation currently being developed by German engineers.
The "war" against friction losses has long been waged by scientists; and this electromagnetic project now promises to end it. Wheels must not be used for traction! Trains are pulled forward either by powerful electromagnets or huge solenoids.
The wagons on the "solenoid railroad" must be equipped with giant ring magnetic ones. Power is turned on to the solenoids automatically as the locomotive moves with the help of photovoltaic cells that are triggered at the right time.
The speed of the electromagnet trains is controlled at the central power plant with a switch that turns off the magnets in the circuit, like electric lights. Wireless connections allow the operator to signal stop or start signals.
So why didn't such a seemingly promising technology take root? WE have already published material about the Maglevs. In short, the essence is this: the first trains with magnets were technologically able to be implemented only in the 80s of the last century in England and Germany. The USSR only conducted tests. The only branch turned out to be unfinished due to the Spitak earthquake and the Karabakh conflict. Today, only in Asia there are several operating branches of such trains.
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And the reason for "stopping" this technology is banal - money. After all, to build maglev you need to start everything from scratch, from scratch. And if there is a ready-made network of railway and auto roads, then who is ready to invest? The Shanghai maglev (very small) required about a billion dollars in investment. It also brings about 90 million losses per year, although it is estimated that the operation of the train can cost 60-70% less than usual. And all because of the singularity and uniqueness of tracks and trains.
But the fact that the Maglev can still show itself is a fact. With proper development, maintenance is commensurate with conventional railways, the maglev is much more reliable and quieter than any modern transportation technology. And they are almost ideal for cities as they do not harm the atmosphere. And, as Asia shows, it is quite possible to realize the idea of "trains with magnets".