Federal Transit Administration Office of Mobility Innovation Proceedings of the Federal Transit Administration’s Urban Maglev Workshop Washington, DC September 8-9, 2005 Notice This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the Department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The United States Government assumes no liability for its contents or use thereof. Notice The United States Government does not endorse products or manufacturers. Trade or manufacturers’ names appear herein solely because they are considered essential to the objective of this report. Table of Contents Executive Summary..................................................................................................................... iii Morning Session: Thursday, September 8 Opening Remarks.......................................................................................................................1 Welcome and Introduction.........................................................................................................1 MagneMotion Maglev System.........................................................................................................5 Discussion, Q & A Session........................................................................................................5 General Atomics (GA) Maglev System...........................................................................................9 Discussion, Q & A Session......................................................................................................10 California University of Pennsylvania (CUP) Maglev Demonstration System.............................11 Discussion, Q & A Session......................................................................................................11 Afternoon Session: Thursday, September 8 Colorado Maglev Project ...............................................................................................................13 Discussion, Q & A Session......................................................................................................13 Maglev 2000 ..................................................................................................................................15 Discussion, Q & A Session......................................................................................................16 Maglev Urban System Associates (MUSA) Project......................................................................17 Discussion, Q & A Session......................................................................................................17 First Day Wrap-up.......................................................................................................................19 Morning Session: Friday, September 9 Day in Review................................................................................................................................21 The First Commercial Application of HSST .................................................................................23 Discussion, Q & A Session......................................................................................................23 Korean Maglev...............................................................................................................................25 Discussion, Q & A Session......................................................................................................25 Old Dominion University (ODU) Maglev Effort, Progress, and Goals .......................................27 Discussion, Q & A Session......................................................................................................27 i Table of Contents (continued) Summary, Lessons Learned, and Benefits to Transit ....................................................................29 Discussion, Q & A Session......................................................................................................29 Next Steps in Urban Maglev Program...........................................................................................33 Closing Remarks............................................................................................................................35 Appendix A. Glossary....................................................................................................................37 Appendix B. Workshop Participants..............................................................................................43 Appendix C. Workshop Agenda....................................................................................................45 Appendix D. Presentations............................................................................................................47 FTA Maglev Program Objectives............................................................................................49 Urban Maglev Workshop – MagneMotion..............................................................................57 General Atomics Maglev System ............................................................................................73 California University of Pennsylvania – Maglev Demonstration System...............................89 Colorado Maglev Project .........................................................................................................99 Federal Transit Administration Workshop ............................................................................115 MUSA Maglev Project ..........................................................................................................133 The 1st Commercial Application of HSST.............................................................................153 Korean Maglev.......................................................................................................................161 Old Dominion University Maglev Efforts: Progress and Goals ............................................173 Summary, Lessons Learned and Benefits to the Transit Industry .........................................189 ii Executive Summary The Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Urban Maglev Workshop was held at FTA Headquarters in Washington, DC, on September 8-9, 2005. The key workshop goals were to review progress, share lessons learned among the grantees, and discuss future direction for the program. Five competitively selected grantees, including Maglev Urban System Associates (MUSA) (Baltimore, MD), General Atomics (GA of San Diego, CA), MagneMotion, Inc. (Acton, MA), Colorado DOT (CDOT, Denver, CO), and Maglev 2000 (Titusville, FL), as well as the guest presenters of overseas maglev systems (Chuba High Speed Surface Transportation (CHSST) of Japan and Rotem of Korea) presented their project summaries and lessons learned. Old Dominion University (ODU) of Virginia also presented a summary of the American Maglev Technology (AMT) Maglev project. The FTA Urban Maglev Program (UMP) was subject to the Transportation Efficiency Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) process, in an effort to develop a safe, cost-effective, reliable, and environmentally sound urban transit system, that would also provide an option for relieving roadway congestion. The initial FTA UMP announcement was published in the Federal Register on January 20, 1999. The program goal was to advance the application of low speed magnetic levitation technologies identified to have comparative advantages in urban transit, and to translate the efforts of subsystem research and development (R&D) and a full-size prototype development into deployable technologies and a full-scale demonstration of the integrated system. TEA-21 provided $5 million annually for low speed maglev from fiscal year (FY) 1998 through FY 2003 and provided a total of $5 million for R&D on low speed superconductivity maglev. Funding for the program through FY 2004 was provided through TEA-21 extensions. Additional funds were earmarked in FY 2004 and FY 2005 for demonstration planning of the maglev system at California University of Pennsylvania (CUP). During the 2-day workshop, information exchanges and vigorous discussions were held on the direction of the technological improvements, performance requirements, subsystem comparison, and market entry relative to deployment. Key issues identified or addressed during the workshop became suggested topics of discussion for an additional workshop in the near future. FTA also requested feedback from the participants on the following key issues: • Cost comparison matrix • Key innovations • Commercialization • Obstacles to further deployment and the FTA’s role in overcoming the barriers • Application to rail transit • Partnering options • Comprehensive comparison and subsystem comparison matrix iii • Funding • Obtaining more information from existing systems overseas, including cost data • Future areas of focus The workshop achieved its goals, resulting in a number of suggestions on technological improvements and options for the future. The issues identified during the discussions will be the building blocks for a possible future workshop. Meanwhile, shared lessons learned and ideas for improvements and innovations will be beneficial to each team in pursuing the next step. iv Morning Session: Thursday, September 8 Opening Remarks Karen Facen, Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Transportation Program Specialist for Office of Research Management The Low Speed Urban Maglev Workshop opened at 8:30 a.m. (EST). Ms. Karen Facen, the FTA Transportation Program