Final Say

Maglev — It’s closer than you think

Transporting cargo faster and cleaner in the future

Is a maglev (magnetic levitation) system feasible? Could an EECO (electromagnetic cargo conveyor) system, moving more than 5,000 containers daily between the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, become a reality?
A recent study commissioned by the Port of Los Angeles and performed by an industry-academic team led by General Atomics (GA) says it’s not only a possibility, it could be done in as little as four years.
“Four years would be pretty rapid for a first-of-a-kind system of this nature,” says Mike Simon, director of commercial business development for GA’s Electromagetic Systems Division. “But if a system were to be approved today and all the hurdles eliminated quickly, it’s conceivable there could be a system operating in 2012.”

Cost
There are costs associated with such a system, as there would be with any new infrastructure, but viewed from a sufficiently broad perspective, they are comparable to conventional rail.
“To achieve the throughput needed, the system would have to be elevated, which comes with its own construction costs,” explains Simon. “And the track for a maglev is more sophisticated as well.”
On the flip side, because the motors (and brains) of the system are built into the rail, the vehicles become simple and less expensive. “So depending on how many vehicles you build and the throughput you’re going after, the costs could be comparable [to conventional rail],” says Simon.

Benefits
GA believes that although the capital costs for a maglev system could be 10% or 20% more than for elevated transportation systems using conventional technologies, those costs would be recovered quickly.
“Within a few years you would come out ahead, and in the long term you would be way ahead,” says Simon. “And that doesn’t include one of the biggest reasons for doing it — eliminating the health effects of the polluting trucks and trains, and all the premature deaths, and asthma hospitalizations, as well as missed days of work and school. When you look at the dollar costs of moving containers through conventional means, it’s in the billions of dollars.”

Other benefits of maglev include:
n Less traffic congestion
n Reduced road repair
n Reduced emissions
n Faster delivery to destinations — maglev systems can reach speeds of 300 mph
n Less noise
n Less vehicle maintenance — with no wheels, axles, engine or friction and fewer moving parts, both tracks and vehicles need less maintenance
n Ability to handle the growing number of containers forecast
n Positive economic development for California — the GA maglev technology was created in the state and could create many high tech jobs.

So far, the greatest level of interest in maglev has been in the Los Angeles–Long Beach area. But with the rising fuel prices, GA has seen a dramatic increase expressed by other potential users and stakeholders.

Retrofitting rail
Current rail companies could also benefit from the new technology. GA has developed a way to take the components of linear motors of the maglev system and install them into existing rail lines.
“If you don’t need to go at extremely high speeds, then you can use linear motors to pull vehicles that are rolling on wheels,” explains Simon.

Already up and running
Currently, there are four other countries with maglev systems in operation — Germany, Japan, South Korea and China. The systems in Germany and South Korea, however, are purely experimental.
“Japan and China each have one operational maglev system, but they are different technologies than the General Atomics technology,” says Simon. “GA is the only technology where all of the power and the brains of the system are in the track and where the vehicles are passive, lightweight, relatively inexpensive and [depending on duty cycle] potentially more efficient.”

Next step
There has been an operational, 400-ft. maglev track in San Diego since 2004. Now GA is ready for the next step — to build a pilot system that could move containers for sustained periods of time and validate the entire operational model.
Simon foresees a demonstration track up to a mile in length, where containers could be loaded and unloaded quickly and the cars could run for several months. “It would demonstrate its reliability over a sustained period of time. It would also give you greater confidence in your cost estimates to build a longer, fully operational system.”

Worth the investment
Simon understands that such an investment would be expensive. “But historically, whenever we have made these big investments, they’ve always paid off — like the railroad system or aviation technology,” he says.
“The logical next step in transportation is the use of magnetic propulsion in its various forms. It’s like the next big wave in transportation technology.”
For more information, visit www.ga.com.