FAST

F O R WA R D
The sci-fi promise of frictionless fast transport has been
slow to materialise. But with new generations of
magnetically levitating trains just around the corner,
travellers can look forward to unimaginable hyperspeeds.

by JAMES GL AVE
illustrations by TAVIS COBURN

0:62 0:63
 TIMELINE

1863// Jules Verne writes Paris in the

Twentieth Century, a novel which describes a
magnetically-pulled tube-capsule transport
system that crossed the Atlantic. Vernes

O
manuscript is not actually published until
1994.

pposites attract. Its more
than just an advice column
clich. Magnetism is also
a physical phenomenon that
holds the promise of comfortably
propelling us into our low-carbon
future at eye-watering speeds.
Magnetic attraction and repulsion already
play a starring role in todays world of sleek in-
tercity travel. Its literally at the core of every
electric motor from those inside autopilot-
enabled electric cars, to those that power the
high-speed trains that crisscross much of Eu-
rope and Asia at hundreds of kilometres per
hour.
These high-speed trains are proven, safe
and efficient, and for decades have compressed
time and distance between major population
centres. Along the way, they have consumed
less energy and produced considerably less
noise, pollution and, frankly, hassle than
airliners.
But time means money, and innovators
will always seek out opportunities to find effi-
ciencies and go faster and farther. As govern-
ments and investors now see the opportunity
to address climate change and serve growing
urban populations, an array of engineers, de-
signers and planners are revisiting the idea of
high-speed magnetic levitation or maglev
in one form or another.
Maglev broadly refers to transportation that
uses electromagnetic forces to suspend, guide
and propel vehicles, typically trains. The tech-
nology offers several advantages over tradition-
al wheel-on-steel high-speed railways. With no
moving parts or gearboxes, maintenance is not
an issue, which makes costs competitive. A mag-
confirms Laurence Blow, a longtime maglev in-
dustry consultant based in Virginia.
Blow is a member of the International Mag-
lev Board, a global industry forum and research-
sharing network. As an example, he points to
Shanghais airport maglev running every day,
all day, without a glitch, since 2004. The vehi-
cle gets up to 429 kilometres per hour [267mph]
in about three minutes... it feels like a commer-
cial airliner at cruising speed, but only a few
feet above the ground. I think its terrific.
With no physical contact between vehi-
cle and guideway, and the potential to reduce
and all but eliminate air resistance by running
the vehicles in low-pressure tubes, maglev sys-
tems are (on paper, at least) capable of cruising
speeds well above 1,000kph/620mph. They ac-
celerate slowly, of course, for passenger com-
fort, and at such speeds, they would handily
pass jet aircraft cruising high overhead. But
despite these advantages, and with a hand-
ful of notable and encouraging exceptions, in
much of the world passenger maglev has for-
ever been just one more feasibility study away.
At least in America, maglev is an almost lost
cause, Blow concedes.
Meanwhile, traditional wheel-on-steel rail-
ways have spread across Europe and Asia like a
hot stock tip.
Even so, high-speed maglev trains remain orail vehicle with no wheels attached.
firmly within the realm of possibility. The Japa-
nese have been ironing out the bugs in their su-
perconducting maglev technology for close to
45 years, and are on schedule to open a blaz-
ing-fast new line between Tokyo and Nagoya in
2027. And Elon Musk, Americas current inge-
nuity darling, has borrowed elements of mag-
lev, and injected a generous dose of Silicon
commercialise Musks concept. You can com-
pare this to going to space.
Could it be that superconducting magnets
will finally pull us into our utopian transporta-
tion future? Stay tuned.
MAY THE FORCE BE WITH US
Every child who has ever played with toy
magnets or wandered around a science fair has
marvelled at the force you can feel but not see.
A young American named Robert God-
dard was likely recalling the same vibe when
he wrote and read aloud The High-Speed Bet, a
homework paper in his university physics class
in Massachusetts in 1904. It described a na-
tional transportation system in the then-far-
off year 1950. In the 22-year-olds minds eye,
powerful magnets would suspend and propel
cars inside steel vacuum tubes, allowing the
passengers to cross the country at high speeds.
The idea went nowhere, but the same
cant be said of Goddard. As the inventor of the
worlds first liquid-fuelled rocket, he later in-
spired a generation of NASA scientists.
A couple of decades later in Europe, Ger-
man scientist Hermann Kemper developed a
technical concept for a maglev based on the
principle of electromagnetic attraction. His
1934 patent describes his invention as a mon-
decades of proposals, task forces, prototypes,
Various others tinkered with maglev in
Germany and elsewhere for subsequent dec-
ades, but it wasnt until 1960 that things really
started to hover.
That was the year Dr. James R. Powell of
Brookhaven National Laboratory found him-
self stuck in a five-hour traffic jam in New
Yorks outer boroughs. Staring at the idling
ate extremely powerful forces. (Though first
invented in 1955, a series of early-1960s im-
provements had sufficiently advanced super-
conducting magnetism to bring the dream of 1888 // In May, Nikola Tesla patents the
floating trains within reach.) electro-magnetic induction motor. For the
first time, alternating current generates a ro-
Along with Canadian-born colleague Gor-
tating magnetic field, which turns a motor.
don Danby, Powell soon developed and pat-
ented the idea. The pair followed it up with
patents for inductive levitation, stabilisation
guideway and the linear synchronous motor 1904// A 22-year-old Robert Goddard
additional critical pieces of the maglev puzzle. writes a paper for his freshman physics class.
Japanese government leaders soon showed up, The High-Speed Bet imagines a national U.S.
maglev system in the then-far-off year of
asked good questions, then went home and be-
1950. Goddard describes a system of cars
gan developing prototypes.
inside a steel vacuum tube, suspended and
By 1972, the first manned Japanese maglev, propelled by powerful electromagnets and
the ML100, set a speed record of 60kph/37mph. travelling at terrific speeds.
Before long, German scientists who had been
expanding on Kempers ideas were engaged in
a maglev rivalry with their Japanese counter-
parts, refining their different approaches and
setting speed records along the way.
In the United States, though, despite the
best efforts of Powell, Danby and a host of
others, maglev never quite (sorry) got off the
ground. The missing ingredient? Political will.
As cutting-edge infrastructure, maglev de-
1913// Emile Bachelet, of Mount Vernon,
mands a significant level of public investment, New York, demonstrates his levitating rail-
which in turn requires political capital. Theres way car prototype. The model uses mag-
been plenty of that in Japan, but despite netic suspension generated via alternating
current. His idea of Electrodynamic Suspen-
working groups and promises, United States sion, or EDS, remained dormant until the
1960s, when superconducting magnets be-
administrations of the 1970s, 1980s and later
came available.
ultimately remained stubbornly unconvinced
of maglevs potential.
In its 2003 final report, the U.S. Nation-
al Maglev Initiative concluded that develop- 1934// German scientist Hermann Kemper
ment is unlikely to move forward at all unless patents a wheel-free monorail suspended by
the U.S. Government funds the major portion magnetic fields.

lev can navigate tighter curves than a regular
high-speed train like Frances TGV, Germanys
Inter City Express, or Spains AVE. But the big-
gest maglev edge is blistering speed.
Speed is the first thing we talk about,
Valley branding and cachet.
What we are trying to do is take a funda-
mental leap forward in changing ground-based
transportation, says Ryan Janzen, co-founder
of TransPod, one of three companies seeking to
vehicle in front of him, Powell realised that
the new wave of superconducting magnets
would be sufficiently powerful to float a train
in the air and propel it forward. Cooled to ex-
treme low temperatures, such magnets gener-
of the development costs.
That never happened, for a variety of rea-
sons, including the above-mentioned political
indifference, and a national transportation cul-
ture deeply invested in airports and highways,
1955// G.B. Yntema builds the first success-
ful superconducting magnet at the Universi-
ty of Illinois.

1:04 1:05
 1965// The United States Congress passes
The High Speed Ground Transportation Act,
mandating a study of high-speed ground
transportation over the next decade.

1969// In October, Brookhaven N ational

Laboratory researchers James Powell and
Gordon Danby receive a patent for super
conducting magnetically levitated trans-
portation.

1971// The boxy-looking Prinzipfahrzeug,

the first passenger-carrying maglev vehicle
achieves 60kph/37mph on a short test track
in Ottobrunn, Germany.

not trains. After spasmodic periods of study,
high-speed maglev in North America is almost
non-existent, notes Blow.
That said, in 2013, a glimmer of interest
suggested that the principles of maglev may
eration, the Shanghai Transrapid line, which
serves Pudong International Airport. With a
top speed of 430kph/267mph, it is the worlds
fastest train in regular service. Even so, it has
seen low ridership since its launch due to a va-
1972// The United States government
closes its Office of High-Speed Ground
Transportation.

well soon find new life in North America and
beyond. Ironically, it took the scheming of an-
other smart guy stuck in traffic before the idea
of using magnetism for intercity travel would
finally begin to take root in North America.
And his name was who else? Elon Musk.
HOW IT WORK S
In a classic synchronous AC or DC induction
motor the kind inside a traditional electri-
fied high-speed train magnetism makes all
the magic happen. When energised with elec-
tricity via an overhead wire called a catenary,
magnetic fields spin rotors to power the steel
wheels that hurl these trains along at hun-
dreds of kilometres an hour. The same basic
principle drives all electrified transport, from a
Tesla Model S, to a New York Metro subway
train, to a sleek French TGV the operator in-
creases or reduces speed by varying the fre-
quency and voltage of the power. A maglev
takes a classic electromagnetic motor and lit-
erally unrolls it like a carpet. Though there
are two leading configurations, the principle
is generally the same. The stationary section of
the motor is mounted in the guideway, which
in the case of Japans system is lined with pas-
sive metal reaction coils. The rotor becomes
the levitation magnets on the sides of the train.
As with rival Japan, Germany had hoped
to create a global maglev export industry
with its Transrapid consortium. It built a
31.5km/19.6-mile loop near Emsland, in the
countrys
federated state of Lower Saxony,
and developed several generations of maglevs
based on Hermann Kempers patent.
Transrapid built what is for now the
only high-speed maglev in commercial op-
riety of factors, including limited operating
hours, steep fares compared to the local met-
ro, and an abbreviated route (it does not termi-
nate in downtown Shanghai, but at an outlying
transit station).
Transrapid International a joint ven-
ture of Siemens and ThyssenKrupp built the
Shanghai airport system with Chinese con-
struction partners in 2004 for US$ 1.2 billion
as a rather expensive sales tool. The partners
wanted to prove out the technology in the hope
that China would invest in the system. 1984// First publicly accessible short mag-
That didnt happen. China walked away lev begins operation connecting the Bir-
from a draft agreement, which would have li- mingham, England, airport with the nearby
censed the Transrapid technology, and began train station, at around 40kph/25mph. The
line closes in 1995.
building the largest high-speed rail network
the world has ever seen. Meanwhile, the coun-
try reverse-engineered, or legally copied, the
Transrapid system. 1990// In June, Japan receives federal
In 2005, Chinas 863 Program, a sort of government approval to begin building its
federal innovation department, introduced a Yamanashi Maglev Line.
prototype 500kph/310mph maglev. The Dol-
phin, as it was named, raced back and forth for
a number of years out of public view, but never
quite got out of the pool. In April, the U.S. Federal Railroad Adminis-
The dream of a German maglev export in- tration, the Department of Energy and the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers together form
dustry effectively ended later that same year,
the National Maglev Initiative to conduct
on 22 September 2006, when tragedy struck
and coordinate further research and evalu-
on Transrapids Emsland demonstration loop ation of the technology.
near Lathen, Germany. On that morning, a
dispatcher cleared a Transrapid maglev to ac-
celerate to its initial 170kph/106mph demon-
stration run cruising speed with a full load of 1991// In July, the Berlin M-Bahn, or Mag-
netbahn, elevated low-speed maglev begins
passengers. He either didnt know, or had for-
operating in the city to fill a public transport
gotten, that a maintenance vehicle was still on
gap created by the construction of the Ber-
the guideway. The resulting collision killed 23 lin Wall. Reunification almost immediately
and injured 11. renders it obsolete; it is dismantled just two
It was the worlds first, and to date only, months after opening day.

1:07
 1993// The U.S. National Maglev Initiative
releases its final report, which declares mag-
lev a technically feasible alternative trans-
portation system. By this time, it was clear
that a made-in-the-USA maglev would be
unrealistic in terms of the time and funding
required to compete on the world stage.
2003// JR Centrals MLX01 breaks a world
railway speed record of 581kph/361mph.
2004// In January, the Shanghai Transrap-
id maglev train, or maglev line, begins serv-
ing Pudong International Airport from a
suburban metro station. With a top speed
of 431kph/268mph, it remains today the
worlds fastest passenger train in commer-
cial service.
2005// Japan begins operation of its rela-
tively low-speed HSST Linimo line in time
for the 2005 World Exposition in Aichi,
Japan.
2006// In February, South Korea commis-
sions the low-speed urban Incheon Airport
Maglev in Seoul. It is still operating.
In September, the Transrapid maglev disas-
ter kills 23 in the first, and so far only, fatal
maglev accident. The coalition never recov-
ers, and the system is abandoned in 2011.
2010// JR Central announces its ambition
to export its superconducting maglev to the
United States, and opens an office in Wash-
ington, D.C.
1:08
fatal maglev accident, and sent shockwaves
through the global maglev community. The
company and the system never recovered; the
German government did not renew the compa-
nys permits, and cancelled a planned Munich
airport connector line. The Emsland facility
closed in 2011. The abandoned elevated guide-
way and mothballed visitor centre remain,
looming over forests and farmlands, the centre
of a legal dispute over demolition costs.
Japan, on the other hand, never gave up
on maglev and kept chipping away at the idea,
identifying technical hurdles and diligently
solving them. JR Central, one of the five com-
panies that designs, builds and operates the
nations famous Shinkansen railway network,
is currently building a 286km/178-mile mag-
lev line between Tokyo and Nagoya. When the
Chuo Shinkansen debuts in 2027, its trains are
expected to operate at 500kph/310mph well
above the average 320kph/199mph operating
speed of conventional Shinkansen.
Superconducting maglev is superior to
HSR-based Shinkansen in its abilities to run
at ultra-high speed, to accelerate and decel-
erate smoothly at any speed, and to climb up
steep mountains, says Rikuhei Daimon, who
leads JR Centrals government relations work
in Washington, D.C.
Daimon adds that traditional Shinkansen
can never run as fast as maglev; it is less costly
to build and will draw less energy. Both sys-
tems have their own sales points, he says.
The project is estimated to cost US$ 76 bil-
lion; the steep price tag is due in large part to
the need to tunnel through the Japanese Alps;
to avoid land-acquisition challenges, about 80
percent of the initial line will be routed at least
40m/130ft deep underground.
HOPE IN A TUBE
In the summer of 2012, Tesla Motors and
SpaceX cofounder Elon Musk casually
mentioned aloud hed been thinking about a
fifth mode of transportation one that would
follow planes, trains, vehicles and ships.
By coincidence, Musk said he dreamed up
the idea while stuck in a traffic jam, echoing
James Powells eureka maglev moment from
decades earlier. Borrowing a page from The
High-Speed Bet, Musk envisioned a closed loop
system of capsules that levitated inside elevat-
ed steel tubes, aka Hyperloop.
The following August, Musk published a
paper, Hyperloop Alpha, to outline the schemes
specifications. It must be immune to weather
and accidents, he said, travel at twice the speed
of a plane, consume only modest amounts of
energy and support 24-hour operations. Near
vacuum conditions inside the tubes would al-
low the levitating capsules to travel at speeds
approaching 1,000kph/620mph, Musk wrote.
The inventor figured that a Hyperloop be-
tween San Francisco and Los Angeles would
cost as little as US$ 6 billion far less than the
California High-Speed Rail project now under
construction in the state, of which hes been a
sharp critic. Recent estimates pencil the price
at around US$ 64 billion. In the end, Musk said
he was too busy launching rockets to develop
Hyperloop, but that others were welcome to
take the idea and run with it. Silicon Valley
promptly went bananas.
Since then, three different entities have
emerged to rise to the Hyperloop challenge:
TransPod, a Canadian startup company,
Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, an
open-source collaboration of hundreds of U.S.
engineers working part time and Hyperloop
One the most heavily-funded and hyped of
IMAGES: GETTY IMAGES
the three.
Sometime between January and March,
when this issue of Omega Lifetime was scheduled
to go to press, Hyperloop One had planned to
have its Kitty Hawk Moment the first-ever full-
scale test of its capsule in a test loop it has built
near Las Vegas, Nevada. At a conference last
November, company co-founder Shervin Pishevar
promised that the future looked bright, indeed.
In 20 years, the whole world will be in-
terconnected by Hyperloop, Pishevar told his
rapt audience. In 20 years, riding in a plane
will seem like riding a horse, except its a lot
more dangerous to fly.
Its not all glory in startup land, of course.
The Hyperloop One co-founders have already
endured a messy and embarrassing legal bat-
tle complete with security-camera footage
of embarrassing and bizarre behaviour and
recently raised their projected system devel-
opment costs significantly. With hundreds of
employees, its now a big and growing opera-
tion and the eyes of the world are upon it.
Its unclear how the three leading Hy-
perloop efforts will solve a few issues such
as how to handle medical emergencies at
1,000kph/620mph, and how to invent com-
mand and control systems robust enough
to eliminate the possibility of a disaster like
the one Transrapid endured in Lathen. Then
theres social acceptance: Hyperloop develop-
ers are already figuring out how to appease
claustrophobes perhaps with LED-projection
windows showing the world outside. Offer
more legroom than coach class, and Hyperloop
may have won half the battle.
Assuming a successful test run, assum-
ing management can control costs and man-
age expectations (you cant spell Hyperloop
without hype), the company has promised an
operational cargo transport system by 2020,
followed by passenger service in 2021.
The chief technical officer for TransPod,
the Canadian company, says his entire system
pod, track, propulsion, the works is on track
for certification by 2020. Hes elusive about
what distinguishes his technology from that of
Hyperloop One, but he is promising a smooth
ride at speeds beyond 1,000kph/620mph.
We are using magnetism for propulsion 2011// JR Central begins construction of
and levitation, and magnetism really forms a the Chuo Shinkansen line, with an expected
opening date of 2027.
big part of [the vacuum system] as well, Ryan
Janzen says. I understand their heart is in the
right place, says Janzen, referring to Hyper-
loop One. But we have a different approach. 2013// In August, borrowing ideas from
We are looking towards the actual viability of Goddard and others, Elon Musk releases his
the complete system. Hyperloop Alpha white paper.
Is he worried at all that his scrappy
Canadian startup is taking on a well-resourced
American competitor with a cast of thousands?
2016// In May, Hyperloop One hosts its
We are not too concerned about it, he says. first open-air test of a sled magnetical-
Anyone can create different demonstrations of ly propelled down a short length of open
different systems and subsystems. We want to guideway.
make sure the overall system is solid.
THE FUTURE LOOK S FAST
Though Hyperloop One and TransPod both
hope to effectively make the Japanese open-air
maglev system obsolete before it even begins,
and beat JR Central to the market by five to
seven years, the Japanese continue developing
and refining their open-air train-style magnetic
levitation system undeterred. They have spent
45 years on the case, and theyre convinced
theyve got it dialled. In October, JR Central establishes the cur-
As you read this, JR Central is boring a rent world speed record of 603kph/375mph
deep tunnel through Japans Southern Alps for a piloted train on its Yamanashi super-
at one point it is 1.4km/0.8 miles below the conducting maglev line.
surface and starting preliminary work on a
pair of the Chuo Shinkansens underground
stations. It is on track (sans track) to welcome
its first passengers aboard in 2027.
The company is also working to estab-
lish superconducting maglev in the northeast
United States. The NorthEast Maglev project,
launched in 2010, is progressing through high-
1:09

THE RAILMASTER
There is something old-world about rail
travel, just as there is a sense of history
about Omegas new series of Railmaster
watches, which are quintessential vin-
tage distillations. The new iteration of
the watch carries obvious reference to
the Omega Railmaster from 1957, a watch
that could resist magnetic fields of up to an
impressive 1,000 gauss and which became
indispensable for railroad personnel, sci-
entists and engineers alike (see article on
page 0:46). But many other small referenc-
es to the Omega back catalogue also make
the watch unique in its own right, such as
the baton-style hands coated in classic-
looking Super-LumiNova, a lollipop cen-
tral seconds hand, the so-called cross-hair
dial in addition to the matt-brushed watch
case magnificently accompanied by a fully-
brushed bracelet. The watch is also a vailable
with a brown leather NATO strap as well
as the depicted herringbone textile strap,
for those who just cannot get enough of
retro charm.
But dont let the exterior fool you. Behind
the vertically brushed stainless steel dial
there is a calibre 8806 Master Chronometer
movement that can resist magnetic fields up
to 15 times stronger than its predecessor.
A perfect timepiece for tomorrows train
travellers.
1:10
level environmental assessments and promo-
tional work. To American maglev consultant
Laurence Blow, its the last glimmer of hope for
maglev in the country that invented the tech-
nology in the first place.
Despite Americas longtime disinterest in
maglev, JR Central sees the United States as
its prime, and first, overseas market. Ideally, it
wants to install a guideway between Washing-
ton, D.C. and New York City, starting with an
initial section from D.C. to Baltimore.
America checks all the right boxes for JR
Central, Daimon confirms. It offers a mature
legal system, with protectedintellectual prop-
erty and solid contracts, a stable democracy
and the resources needed to invest in large-
scale infrastructure. Plus, it doesnt already
have true high-speed rail; the Washington D.C.
to Boston Amtrak Acela is a pale cousin to the
sleek Shinkansen.
India is also kicking the non-existent tyres
of a potential maglev network. This past Sep-
tember, Prime Minister Modis government
invited companies to submit maglev propos-
als for four possible routes that would connect
the major cities of the subcontinent. Six firms
submitted formal expressions of interest. The
government is reviewing them, but Blow pro-
nounces it a non-starter.
Its hard to imagine an intercity maglev
running in India, he says. They dont have
the necessary institutional frameworks. Any-
one can study maglev, but to implement it, [In-
dia] first has to come to grips with its own rail
system and its a mess.
What about China? Again, the expert is
sceptical. After more than a decade, the Dol-
phin has quite literally gone nowhere fast. The
Chinese did not purchase the rights to the key
safety and control technologies, says Blow; the
critical software all stayed in German hands,
and its tough to unravel the code. At any rate,
the Germans are nowhere to be seen; theyve
thrown in the maglev towel.
T H E OM E GA L I F E T I M E
MAGN E T I C
Perhaps for a real glimpse of what comes
next we need to look to Hollywood. Science fic-
SC I E NCE GU I DE
tion has always proven a reliable pulse of our
greatest hopes and fears; the 1976 dystopian
thriller Logans Run was the first of the mod- A T EAR-OUT CRASH COURSE TO EVERYTHING YOU NEED
ern age to depict (apparently) magnetised pod
TO KNOW ABOUT THE WONDERS OF MAGNETISM
travel. But for a truly thrilling vision of a mag-
netically suspended Hyperloop wonderland,
stream Tomorrowland a family-friendly 2015
Disney picture starring George Clooney.
In the films opening act, our young her-
oine Casey Newton finds herself transported
centuries into the future. She enters a Tesla
Station and steps aboard a Levitating Elevated
Vehicle for a dizzying tube ride to a spaceport.
Along the way, we catch tantalising glimpses of
the most wonderful, gee-whiz flying-car utopia
the Disney magic machine can conjure up ze-
ro-gravity swimming pools and all.
With the exception of Japan that in a
nutshell has largely been the story of high-
speed magnetic transportation to date. Clear-
ly, inventing the future is a tough business. But
we also know that when innovations stick, they
can be world-changing. We now have everyday
access to tools and innovations that seemed
preposterous even a decade ago. We can speak
to an electronic box sitting on our kitchen
counter and ask it to send more groceries and
cue up the new Beyonc album. We can sit be-
hind the wheel of an electric vehicle as it drops
us off at work and then goes off to find itself a
parking space. Some of us can launch rockets
into space, then land them, vertically, minutes
later just as maglev visionaries Jules Verne
and Robert Goddard had once predicted.
All of these wonderful things are here and
We've heard most of it in school before, but can you remember?
now. Given how impossible they seemed just a Here is the chance to refresh your knowledge, offering a second opportunity
short time back, when we stop for a moment to visit the fascinating world of magnets and magnetism.
to consider what might come next, its not that
crazy to imagine magically floating and ter-
rifically fast zooming pods and trains in the
picture.
Is it?
1:11