[ale] OT: Maglev funding?

[Robert Reese~]

> Robert Reese~ wrote:
>> People Movers are fantastic for certain applications. However,
>> those applications typically are micro environments; an airport
>> is a perfect example as is an amusement park.  Las Vegas could
>> use one, probably, as well as a few other places where there is a
>> high concentration of people in a localized space.
>>
> They've got one; it's a linear route that spans roughly seven city
> blocks.

Cool!


>> It isn't really feasible for the longer commutes, not even from
>> the airport to another destination.  That's where the monorail's
>> purpose lies inside the city.
>>
>>
> Again I have to ask - why are you assuming it's not feasible?  The
> WDW Epcot line is a looped spur that runs about five miles away
> from the Transportation and Ticketing Center; it crosses highways
> and waterways as it does so.  For longer expanses, there are issues
> of power (self-contained like a diesel-electric, third-rail like
> WDW or MARTA, or pantograph like TGV) and there would have to be a
> rather involved passenger rescue support infrastructure, but those
> are reasonably solvable problems.

Okay, it is *feasible*; I should have said *not practical*.  Again, it is 
passenger density versus the cost of maintenance. The People Mover is a 
high-maintenance system.... lots of gears, motors, electrical switches, 
bearings, and so forth.  And most of those are NOT on the cars but are embedded 
in the track.  The maintenance folks have to go to those stationary points of 
failure, though inherent in the system is some redundancy that allows for 
failure of some components while maintaining the integrity of the system as a 
whole.


>> The other problem is that the maintenance cost on a People Mover
>> are quite high... imagine the thousands of bearings, electric
>> motors, switches, and so forth that have to be maintained just at
>> WDW alone.  Sure, the usefulness there warrants the high
>> maintenance, but as a replacement for MARTA it just wouldn't make
>> sense financially.
>>
> Like MARTA *doesn't* have that...or Amtrak, or TGV?

Those systems have tracks that have a lower maintenance.  The tracks are more 
efficient to maintain.  The troubles are usually with the cars and engines, 
which can be taken to a shop to be repaired and maintained.  Question: which is 
easier?  Fix your car on the side of the highway with handtools and the 
occasional flashlight, or fixed in a nice, air-conditioned/heated and lit shop 
with a plethora of specialty tools and equipment?  You see, on a People Mover, 
the cars are essentially stationary and the track moves.

R~