Domain: swissmetro.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to swissmetro.com.
Comments · 12
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Swissmetro
the answer might be here:
Swissmetro -
Global Underground Maglev SubwayThe most efficient way to physically get around the planet in the near-future will turn out to be underground, rather than above -- in maglev trains through a global network of low-friction vacuum tunnels. Check out the Swissmetro site for pretty pictures.
Right now this is an impossibility because of the huge expense involved in making tunnels the old-fashioned way with TBMs. But, with near-term nanotechnology, moving hard bedrock molecules out of the way becomes almost as cheap and easy as manipulating databits; hardware essentially becomes software.
So, imagine a 20,000km nonstop train ride to the exact opposite side of the Earth in which you accelerate half-way at 1G and decelerate the other half at 1G. Your trip would only take just under 50 minutes! Hmm... but you'd be traveling 14,009m/s (or almost 31,337mph!) at the midpoint, which means there's enough centripetal force against the curved tunnel to lift you out of your seat... requiring the seats or the train to invert as you become weightless. (I'll leave it to someone else to figure the details out - I haven't done this physics since I was playing with the Babylon5 numbers).
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Re:Maglev best @ high speed in vaccum
The Swiss have been proposing such a system since the early 90s. Swissmetro hope to have a train in service by 2020. I doubt it though.
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Re:From England, eh...
There are several problems for such a project that did not exist for the Chunnel builders.
First, there is the distance. The distance could be brigded using high speed trains, e.g. MagLev trains in tubes with a low air pressure to reduce drag. Such a system has been proposed as an integrated metro system for large parts of Europe.
The second problem is harder to solve. For the entire length of the Atlantic ccean, there is something called the Mid-Atlantic ridge. This is the zone where the European tectonic plate and the American tectonic plate is slowly gliding away from each other. This creates volcanoes and eruptions on a regular basis, though most of them are underwater and not noticed on the surface. Since a tunnel would have to be built through the roch under the ocean, I think it would be hard to bridge such a zone.
There are more problems, e.g. regarding pressure, accidents and rescues, etc.
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Switzerland has been planning it a long time
In switzerland we have been having a firm that has been promoting building such a train for a long time. Several universities have done feasibility studies to show that it can be done. It is currently discussed if the state should pay for the enormous costs involved.
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References (SwissMetro)
The SwissMetro project started in 1974. Due to the high cost of the project, there isn't yet a trial-run on a short distance, but the two top technical schools of the country (EPFL & ETH) keep working on the projet.
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Swissmetro
Exactly this concept of transportation has been under consideration in Switzerland for a long time under the name Swissmetro. The idea is to link the major population centers together, creating in effect a single country-wide city. The technology is ready to build the demonstration track from Geneva to Lausanne (~30 km), but so far, the government and the Federal Assembly have been unwilling to shell out the CHF 1.5 bio (about
/$ 1 bio) required to do it. Go hither for a cool simulation video or thither for technical details, or even yonder for the math. -
SwissMetro:Those interested should definitely check SwissMetro ( http://www.swissmetro.com/sito/default_eng.htm ).
An actual implementation has been proposed back in 1997 and discussed at the political. A 40 miles pilot track is being planned between Geneva and Lausanne.
The main obstacles are cost and, as for all big constructions in Switzerland, the need to address any and all concerns about degradation of the environment.
Check it out!
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Also see the Swiss version
At http://www.swissmetro.com. By no means a small undertaking. I personally don't think they'll ever get funding even though the idea is cool. They must have larger infrastructure costs than maglev and even maglev is prohibitively expensive.
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Re:Maglev not economically feasibble
Furthermore the aerodynamic drag turns out to be a much more important factor than they first expected.
There is a solution to this, which is to build vacuum tunnels. Of course, this is incredibly expensive, but the trains can go much faster and it greatly reduces the stability problems as well as drag.
The Swiss, who have to build tunnels anyway, are planning to build just such a system: Swissmetro. There is actually a cost saving over conventional tunnels since the vacuum tunnels can be smaller (you have to leave space for the air to pass in a conventional tunnel).
A tunnel system would also be much more resistant to sabotage or just animals wandering onto the track. I suspect that eventually we will do this in the U.S., although it may be a hundred years from now. -
Re:More details on high speed trainsWell, yes, isn't it interesting how far we've come with 'conventional' train technologies..?
Now, considering that the techology of maglev trains is still in its infancy, it's pretty hard to imagine where it will be in let's say 50 years..!
An interesting link for some ideas of the development of future maglev technologies is for example here .
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Re:Why dawdle at Mach 1 when you can have Mach 3?
Well Europe is once again already planing one check this out!
O.K. maybe not supersonic but evacuated none the less. Btw. you dont need superconductors for Maglev at least the German Transrapid does not need it, makes it cheaper, too.