Transrapid
Transrapid is a German-developed high-speed monorail train using magnetic levitation. Planning for the system started in the late 1960s, with a test facility in Emsland, Germany, inaugurated in 1983. In 1991, technical readiness for application was approved by the Deutsche Bundesbahn in cooperation with renowned universities.
The last version, the 2007-built Transrapid 09, is designed for a cruising speed of and allows acceleration and deceleration of approximately.
In 2002, the first commercial implementation was completed – the Shanghai Maglev Train, which connects the city of Shanghai's rapid transit network to Shanghai Pudong International Airport. The Transrapid system has not yet been deployed on a long-distance intercity line.
The system was developed and marketed by Siemens and ThyssenKrupp, as well as other, mostly German companies.
In 2006, a Transrapid train collided with a maintenance vehicle on the German test track, leading to 23 fatalities.
In 2011, the Emsland test track closed down when its operating license expired. In early 2012, demolition and reconversion of the entire Emsland site including the factory was approved, but has been delayed until late 2023 because of concepts for usage as a Hyperloop test track or a maglev track for the Chinese CRRC Maglev.
The development of the Transrapid system in Germany has been carried forward in some form by the company Max Bögl, which has developed the Transport System Bögl for short range maglev tracks.
Technology
Levitation
The super-speed Transrapid maglev system has no wheels, no axles, no gear transmissions, no steel rails, and no overhead electrical pantographs. The maglev vehicles do not roll on wheels; rather, they hover above the track guideway, using the attractive magnetic force between two linear arrays of electromagnetic coils—one side of the coil on the vehicle, the other side in the track guideway, which function together as a magnetic dipole. During levitation and travelling operation, the Transrapid maglev vehicle floats on a frictionless magnetic cushion with no mechanical contact whatsoever with the track guideway. On-board vehicle electronic systems measure the dipole gap distance 100,000 times per second to guarantee the clearance between the coils attached to the underside of the guideway and the magnetic portion of the vehicle wrapped around the guideway edges. With this precise, constantly updated electronic control, the dipole gap remains nominally constant at. When levitated, the maglev vehicle has about of clearance above the guideway surface.The Transrapid maglev vehicle requires less power to hover than it needs to run its on-board air conditioning equipment.
In Transrapid vehicle versions TR08 and earlier, when travelling at speeds below, the vehicle levitation system and all on-board vehicle electronics were supplied with power through physical connections to the track guideway. At vehicle speeds above, all on-board power was supplied by recovered harmonic oscillation of the magnetic fields created from the track's linear stator.. A new energy transmission system, version TR09, has since been developed for Transrapid, in which maglev vehicles now require no physical contact with the track guideway for their on-board power needs, regardless of the maglev vehicle speed. This feature helps to reduce on-going maintenance and operational costs.
In case of power failure of the track's propulsion system, the maglev vehicle can use on-board backup batteries to temporarily power the vehicle's levitation system.
Propulsion
The Transrapid maglev system uses a synchronous longstator linear motor for both propulsion and braking. It works like a rotating electric motor whose stator is "unrolled" along the underside of the guideway; instead of producing torque it produces a linear force along its length. The electromagnets in the maglev vehicle which lift it also work as the equivalent of the excitation portion of this linear electric motor. Since the magnetic travelling field works in only one direction, if there were to be several maglev trains on a given track section, they would all travel in the same direction thereby reducing the possibility of collision between moving trains.Energy requirements
The normal energy consumption of the Transrapid is approximately per section for levitation and travel, and vehicle control. The drag coefficient of the Transrapid is about 0.26. The aerodynamic drag of the vehicle, which has a frontal cross section of, requires a power consumption, at or cruising speed, given by the following formula:Power consumption compares favourably with other high-speed rail systems. With an efficiency of 0.85, the power required is about 4.2 MW. Energy consumption for levitation and guidance purposes equates to approximately 1.7 kW/t. As the propulsion system is also capable of functioning in reverse, energy is transferred back into the electrical grid during braking. An exception to this is when an emergency stop is performed using the emergency landing skids beneath the vehicle, although this method of bringing the vehicle to a stop is intended only as a last resort should it be impossible or undesirable to keep the vehicle levitating on back-up power to a natural halt.
Market segment and historical parallels
Compared to classical railway lines, Transrapid allows higher speeds and gradients with less weathering and lower energy consumption and maintenance needs. The Transrapid track is more flexible, and more easily adapted to specific geographical circumstances than a classical train system. Cargo is restricted to a maximum payload of per car. Transrapid allows maximum speeds of, placing it between conventional high speed trains and air traffic. The magnetic field generator, an important part of the engine being a part of the track, limits the system capacity.From a competition standpoint, the Transrapid is a proprietary solution. The track being a part of the engine, only the single-source Transrapid vehicles and infrastructure can be operated. There is no multisourcing foreseen concerning vehicles or the highly complicated crossings and switches. Unlike classical railways or other infrastructure networks, as jointly administrated by the Federal Network Agency in Germany, a Transrapid system does not allow any direct competition.
Ecological impact
The Transrapid is an electrically driven, clean, high-speed, high-capacity means of transport able to build up point-to-point passenger connections in geographically challenged surroundings. This has to be set in comparison with the impact on heritage and or landscape protection areas. Any impact of emissions has to take into account the source of electrical energy. The reduced expense, noise and vibration of a people-only Transrapid system versus a cargo train track is not directly comparable. The reuse of existing tracks and the interfacing with existing networks is limited. The Transrapid indirectly competes for resources, space and tracks in urban and city surroundings with classical urban transport systems and high speed trains.Comparative costs
Track construction cost
The fully elevated Shanghai Maglev was built at a costof US$1.33 billion over a length of including trains and stations. Thus the cost per km for dual track was US$43.6 million, including trains and stations. This was the first commercial use of the technology. Since then conventional fast rail track has been mass-produced in China for between US$4.6 and US$30.8 million per kilometer, mostly in rural areas..
In 2008 Transrapid Australia quoted the Victoria State Government A$34 million per kilometer for dual track. This assumed 50% of the track was at grade and 50% was elevated. In comparison, the Regional Rail Link built in Victoria cost around A$5 billion, or A$105 million per kilometer, including two stations.
From the above it is not possible to say whether Transrapid or conventional fast rail track would be cheaper for a particular application.
The higher operating speed of the maglev system will result in more passengers being delivered over the same distance in a set time. The ability of the Transrapid system to handle tighter turns and steeper gradients could heavily influence a cost comparison for a particular project.
Train purchase cost
In 2008, Transrapid Australia quoted the Victorian State Government between A$16.5 million and A$20 million per trains section or carriage. Due to the width of the Transrapid carriages they have a floor area of about. This works out at between A$179,000 and A$217,000 per square meter.In comparison, InterCityExpress which are also built by Siemens cost about A$6 million per carriage. Due to the width of the ICE carriages they have a floor area of about. This works out at about A$83,000 per square meter.
This shows Transrapid train sets are likely to cost over twice as much as ICE 3 conventional fast rail train sets at this time. However, each Transrapid train set is more than twice as efficient due to their faster operating speed and acceleration according to UK Ultraspeed. In their case study only 44% as many Transrapid train sets are needed to deliver the same number of passengers as conventional high-speed trains.
Operational cost
Transrapid claims their system has very low maintenance costs compared to conventional high speed rail systems due to the non-contact nature of their system.Implementations
China
The only commercial implementation so far was in 2000, when the Chinese government ordered a Transrapid track to be built connecting Shanghai to its Pudong International Airport.It was inaugurated in 2002 and regular daily trips started in March 2004. The travel speed is, which the Maglev train maintains for 50 seconds as the short, track only allows the cruising speed to be maintained for a short time before deceleration must begin. The average number of riders per day is about 7,500, while the maximum seating capacity per train is 440. A second class ticket price of about 50 RMB is four times the price of the airport bus and ten times more expensive than a comparable underground ticket.
The project was sponsored by the German Hermes loans with DM 200 million. The total cost is believed to be $1.33 billion.
A planned extension of the line to Shanghai Hongqiao Airport and onward to the city of Hangzhou has been repeatedly delayed. Originally planned to be ready for Expo 2010, final approval was granted on 18 August 2008, and construction was scheduled to start in 2010 for completion in 2014. However the plan was cancelled, possibly due to the building of the high speed Shanghai–Hangzhou Passenger Railway.Since 2020, this extension was proposed again.