Costly maglev train systems have been slow to catch on in many countries. Maglev proponents hope the Shanghai project becomes a catalyst for other high-speed rail projects worldwide. In March, the U.S. government will provide $950 million to a maglev program in either Pittsburgh or in the Baltimore- Washington region. View Slideshow 
Shanghai, China's largest city, is gearing up to launch the world's first commercial maglev train, which uses electromagnetic levitation to carry passengers as speeds of up to 430 kmh.
The 30-km (18-mile) maglev line, built using German technology from Transrapid International at a cost of more than $1.2 billion, is launching sometime in summer 2003. It enables passengers to travel from Shanghai's financial district to its international airport in about eight minutes.
The same journey by car typically takes between 45 minutes to one hour.
The high speeds of the maglev, or magnetic levitation, trains are possible because there is no friction between the track and the train's wheel. The train glides about 10 millimeters above a single track called a guideway, propelled and held in position by powerful magnets.
The system also allows for extremely rapid acceleration; the Transrapid takes only two minutes -- or a distance of 5 km -- to reach a speed of 300 kmh whereas conventional high-speed trains such as France's TGV and Japan's Bullet Train take about 30 kilometers to reach the same speed.
Its supporters claim that maglev technology offers many advantages over traditional high-speed railways: less maintenance, vibration and noise, greater energy efficiency and no exhaust emissions.
"It's a technology whose time has come," said Christopher Brady, president of Transrapid's American division in Washington.
Critics, however, claim that maglev is too expensive to build. They also say there's no proof the technology can support a commercially viable transportation system.
They point out that while both Germany and Japan have been investing in maglev for years, neither country has put the technology to the test in a full commercial setting.
Maglev's supporters, however, were buoyed by the Shanghai train's high-profile maiden voyage on New Year's Eve, when German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji travelled at more than 430 kmh on the Shanghai Transrapid line.
Both leaders spoke of "Shanghai's technological miracle" and underlined their commitment to cooperate on even more ambitious maglev projects in China in the near future, including an ambitious 775-mile link between Shanghai and Beijing costing an estimated $22 billion.
China also sees maglev as an important trophy in its drive to become a high-tech trendsetter. "The importing of maglev technology will help China to take full advantage of its competitive edge and facilitate the building of a series of high-speed railways, thus driving forward the growth off new high-tech sectors," said Wu Xiangming, chief engineer of the Shanghai maglev project.
Maglev proponents hope the Shanghai project becomes a catalyst for other high-speed rail projects worldwide.
In March, the U.S. government will provide $950 million to a maglev program in either Pittsburgh or in the Baltimore-Washington region.
The Pittsburgh system would be 76 kilometers long, linking the airport to the city and its eastern suburbs. The Baltimore-Washington route would be 60 kilometers long, linking the two cities and Baltimore-Washington International Airport between them.
Another maglev project will include 92 miles of tracks connecting three airports in the Los Angeles area. Eventually, the line would form the core of a 273-mile web.
Albert Perdon, a project manager with the, California Maglev Project said the Chinese initiative was a wake-up call for U.S. politicians, planners and transport officials who need to address America's "costly and inefficient" transportation system.
"We have to ask ourselves if we can afford to waste billions of dollars a year on our inefficient and costly transportation system in which motorists in Southern California, for example, spend what amounts to a week and a half per year sitting in stalled traffic, and where freight movement on our state and interstate freeways moves at a crawl during many hours of the day."
Perdon believes the Shanghai system, built in just over two years, might persuade naysayers that the technology is practical enough to be used in the real world.
"I think it helps to cast aside the criticism from a small group of critics that maglev is an unproven, 'Buck Rogers' technology that has no track record of revenue operation," he said.
However, not everyone is convinced that maglev is the antidote to America's transportation difficulties.
Vukan Vuchic, an engineering professor at the University of Pennsylvania, believes there are most cost-effective means for short- and medium-haul travel. "The advantages of maglev over high-speed rail are few and they are very small," wrote Vuchic in an article published last year in Transportation Quarterly.
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