From September 18th to 22nd, the international Maglev 2024 conference was held in Malmö, Sweden. At this conference the international community of Maglev-related researchers, developers, planners, architects and interestees assembled to share knowledge and insights. Stichting Freedom of Mobility also participated again with a poster session and presentation.
On Thursday, September 19th, we gave a presentation “Case for Maglev in the Netherlands connecting airports and stations – A feasibility study in progress”.
As the study into connecting the airports to the railway network, possibly using intercity Maglev, is only in an early stage, we limited the presentation to a brief introduction of the location of the airports, the airport line, A2 corridor, followed by insights into the study and some preliminary data.
After the introduction, we shared the background and methods to make a realistic cost estimate in the Dutch situation, especially for Maglev.
In the night from 13 to 14 september 2017, a Transrapid TR09, the latest model from the leading series of magnetic field trains, was transported to Nortrup. The company Kemper, relatives of the inventor of this technology, purchased this from the German government.
Heavy haul trucks transported the 3 sections of the 75 m long train. Journalists and spectators gathered around the gate of the former TVE in Lathen to witness the transport leaving.
Representatives of the GfM, the International Maglev Board, welsterra and Stichting Freedom of Mobility were at the scene and interviewed by some of the TV-crews. They stressed that Germany should be aware of how much the Transrapid is valued amongst Maglev experts.
Despite the stormy weather and some tight road curves, the transport went smoothly. The wind was no problem for the up to 505 km/h fast train and hence the transport reached in Nortrup at the end of the night. There too, the press and quite a few residents were awaiting the arrival. The Kemper Company celebrated this day with free bread with delicious bratwurst and drinks for all hungry persons present.
In the early morning, the lifting started of the Transrapid onto a purposely-built concrete track on the company’s premises. Due to imbalance and the weather, it took somewhat longer, but in the afternoon the first vehicle section was resting at the track.
The Kemper Company is going to use the train as a conference and training office, as well as opening part to the public for exposition as to why it is here. The company will also partly construct a glass station-like building around it. They hope to have it all ready in time for the company’s 130-year anniversary.
About (this) Transrapid
The Transrapid TR09 class was conceived as a super speed intercity, regional or airport express. As a result of many decennia of successful development, Transrapid is the worlds only fully automated system that is officially approved for fast passenger transport.
But with a huge list of overdue work on the existing infrastructure and still ongoing effects of the unification, Germany had and, for the foreseeable future, still has other priorities than large-scale construction of new Maglev infrastructure. After cancelling the Munich project in 2008, it proved difficult for Germany to export this technology that they had not been able to use in their own country.
A Transrapid route can be adapted more easily than a high-speed rail route. The latest promising project, a 120 km long route on Tenerife, needed 24-41 km (!) less tunnelling compared to the alternatives. However, few other foreign projects used this advantage. Unfortunately, Spain cut the islands infrastructure funding in 2011-2012 as a result of the credit crisis.
Lacking other short-term applications, the TVE Development and Training Centre was closed and the first production model of the Transrapid TR09 was auctioned. The Kemper Company will cherish this Transrapid as part of their family history.
It doesn’t make the Transrapid technology itself history, though. There are still ongoing projects considering Maglev with a horizon on the year 2040 like in the U.S. and even in the Netherlands. ThyssenKrupp meanwhile maintains the technology for new opportunities and uses parts of it in other products. Also China, Korea, Japan, as well as Hyperloop, train manufacturers and even the IC industry continue to build on the wealth of knowledge from Transrapid technology.
Stichting Freedom of Mobility is present on 17-18-19 March 2015 at the RailTech 2015 exhibition (http://www.railtech.com/en/) in Jaarbeurs Utrecht, the Netherlands. RailTech is the largest rail exhibition in the Benelux.
You can find us with a shared stand of the Railforum Centraal area, in hall 3, section D102. A floorplan is available too here (warning: large picture).
We promote Maglev and show that the technology is alive and (long time) ready to be deployed. We explain why Maglev plays a key part of our vision, how it can be used not to compete with but boost existing rail service and why it should be in focus of any railroad company that wants to provide real value to the passengers in countries like the Netherlands.
Using the latest model Transrapid TR09, kindly provided to us by ThyssenKrupp Transrapid, we can prove that the Transrapid Maglev has successfully continued development after the Lathen accident, contrary to public belief. Please feel free to meet us and ask us any question!
On invite of Ordina we gave a presention “Toekomst met Magneetzweeftrein” (Future with Maglev) for the Railacademy at June 26th, 2014. We could explain our vision and the role the maglev plays in it. We were pleased with the reactions and actively participating audience. At this place we’d like to thank the organisation and attendants.
Unfortunately we couldn’t address some questions during the session. But we do that here because they might be interesting to a larger audience.
Costs, general remark
The most frequently asked questions regard costs. But in our vision costs are limited only to indicators to assess the feasibility. For actual cost we have to wait until the implementation plan is drawn up.
Otherwise cost projects will get a too large margin of error, depending on for instance spot prices of commodities (metal, concrete), land and labour. Espescially the calculated requirements of concrete constructions are important. The unit price of concrete can differ a factor 9 based on the required additives!
Fortunately, we do have such figures from previous Transrapid projects like the Zuiderzeelijn. We use these here to answer some of the questions.
Comparison investement costs infrastructure Transrapid and HSL
The explorations of the Zuiderzee route section between Lelystad and Groningen showed that the capital investment for the Transrapid infrastructure per kilometer is comparable with the construction of an HSL, namely 9.2 respectively 8.2 billion guilders, price level 2000.
([1], pag 20, table 16).
Section
HZL-plus
ZZL-IC
ZZL-HSL
ZZL-MZB
ZZL-MZM
Schiphol-Almere
0,6
0,5
0,6
4,1
4,1
Almere-Lelystad
0,3
0,3
0,3
1,3
1,4
Lelystad-Groningen
–
4,9
8,2
9,1
9,2
Zwolle-Groningen/Leeuwarden
2,0
–
–
–
–
Total
2,9
5,7
9,1
14,5
14,7
This section is good to compare as it fully consists of new tracks, not re-using any existing tracks. The difference is only 12%, despite the fact that the Transrapid has 2.5 x more stations, (Lelystad, Emmeloord, Heerenveen, Drachten and Groningen) over the HSL (Heerenveen, Groningen) and its dedicated energy supply costs are included ([1], pag 7, 8, 19).
Note that this concerns costs of 2001. Since then, developments such as the MMF Guideway of Professor Flessner have the potential to make Transrapid infrastructure another 30% cheaper.
Source:
[1] PDF: Snelle verbinding tussen de Randstad en het Noorden – Resultaten van de verkenningen deel I en deel II
Ministerie van V&W, VROM, Den Haag, 15 Oktober 2001.
The original pdf has meanwhile been removed, but the relevant Parliamentary Paperk was still on line on Jul, 4th 2014.
Comparison maintenance costs Transrapid vs HSL
The Munich airport link studies provide us with cost indicators for the maintenance of the Transrapid maglev train and infrastructure in comparison to the ICE3 high speed train.
Maintenance costs per km double track of the maglev infrastructure are € 0.15 to 0.17 million per annum, well below that of the HSL with € 0.23 million per annum ([2], pag 296, 297).
Given the low-wear technology of maglev line, its 25% lower maintenance costs are no surprise. This relates to about 0.5% of the initial capital investment. For bridges in Germany this figure is 0.6%, which makes it plausible because the elevated maglev line can be regarded as a kind of continuous viaduct.
Regarding the vehicles, at comparable utilizable floor area the maintenance costs of the Transrapid maglev with € 2910/day are also well below those of the ICE3 with € 4160/day ([2], pag 297).
These 30% lower costs of maglev vehicles can be explained by the low wear due their lack of a mechanical drive train, in spite of having comparable electrical complexity to the ICE3.
Source:
[2] Book: Transrapid und Rad-Schiene-Hochgeschwindigkeitsbahn – Ein gesamtheitlicher Systemvergleich
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Rainer Schach, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Peter Jehle, Dipl.-Ing. René Naumann
Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg, 2006, ISBN: 3-540-28334-X
Networking ability of complex switches of Transrapid?
The figures of maintenance and punctuality prove that the complex Maglev switches have no negative effect on the maintenance and reliability of the system.
The Transrapid in Shanghai is record holder in terms of availability and punctuality. Until December 2013, the vehicles have transported 40 million passengers in total with a punctuality of 99.9% over 11 million kilometers ([3], page “History 2000-now”).
The eight switches in the Shanghai route thus have proven to function well for 10 years. Hence, network formation is not a problem.
Source:
[3] Web site: transrapid.de by Thyssenkrupp Transrapid, accessed July, 2nd 2014.
Comparison of material usage and environmental load of overhead lines versus long stator
Longstator
One of the attendees had noticed the thickness of the stator cables in the Transrapid track. It was asked whether the thicker cables consume much more material than the overhead lines of conventional train. Questions were also raised about the environmental impact in using aluminum instead of copper wire.
Actually, the last two questions the easiest to answer. The Transrapid functions contactless. There is no wear of overhead wire and thus no metal disappears in the environment. During the life span of a stator cable, the overhead wires have to be replaced multiple times. And the metals from the stator cables can be fully recovered at the end of their service life. That makes the higher material usage and the type of material almost irrelevant, which is also reflected in the maintenance costs.
The long stator motor of the Transrapid contains three phase wires on either side of the track, in total 6 cables. Nexans has supplied 1000km medium voltage cable for the 30 km Transrapid track (total approx 58 km of guideway) in Shanghai ([4]). The thickness of the cable compared to conventional overhead wire is visual deception. Half of the thickness is insulating material, the conductor itself is in Shanghai 300 mm².
Cross section stator cable Transrapid [8]In comparison: The NS 1500V catenary uses two contact wires of each 100 mm², a support cable of 150 mm² and a reinforcement lead of another 150 mm². Total 500 mm². ([5]). The materials for the attachment wires are not included in this figure.
The Dutch 25 kV catenary (B5 system) uses a support cable of 70 mm², a contact wire of 120 mm² copper silver, a feeder cable of 240 mm² and a equipotentiaal lead of 240 mm² aluminium ([6]). Total 670 mm², attachment wires not included.
The conductor material in the Transrapid stator cable is mainly driven by by metal prices, in principle, any conductor can be used. In Shanghai aluminium has been used. At the time of writing, aluminum is 3.8 times cheaper than copper and 25.2 times cheaper than silver ([7]).
Catenary wires must however take mechanical contact into account and therefore are made of copper or copper silver.
Hence, the investment costs for the construction of a maglev line or HST do not differ much. While, from both, only the Transrapid is designed as regular intercity for daily use of all taxpayers, instead of the 60 times smaller elite using a high speed line. Also, the new maglev infrastructure creates opportunities for the railways and airports in a way that no high speed train can provide. So easy to see where our tax money would be spent to best on… Too bad that maglev trains have no lobby.**
[8] Image source: Paper: New long stator winding (LSW) cable with Aero-Z conductor for high speed up with short round-trip time
Harald Buethe, Francois Daugny, Dr. Holger Fastabend, Dr. Dirk Steinbrink, Peter Zamzow,
Nexans Deutschland Industries GmbH & Co KG, Maglev Conference 2004, p7-4 Harald.Buethe.pdf
** PS: For those wanting to make a statement in support of Maglev trains, you can do so on the web site of the international maglev board, an organisation by and for experts and persons interested in Maglev trains trying to do the missing lobbying work.
Journalists and spectators gathered around the gate of the former TVE in Lathen to witness the transport leaving.
There too, the press and quite a few residents were awaiting the arrival. The Kemper Company celebrated this day with free bread with delicious bratwurst and drinks for all hungry persons present. 
In the early morning, the lifting started of the Transrapid onto a purposely-built concrete track on the company’s premises.
Due to imbalance and the weather, it took somewhat longer, but in the afternoon the first vehicle section was resting at the track. 
The company will also partly construct a glass station-like building around it. They hope to have it all ready in time for the company’s 130-year anniversary. 
