Germany Looking To Revive Magnetic Levitation Rail at Home

June 22, 2020 (EIRNS)—In mid-February the German Ministry of Transport commissioned a feasibility study for potential use of maglev systems in urban regions. Sources have said that a maglev route between the city of Munich and the international airport nearby, a project that was abandoned more than 10 years ago because of budget austerity and ecological opponents, may be revived. At present, the likewise abandoned Transrapid system exists only in a variant developed and tested by the Max Bögl company, which also has ongoing cooperation with Chinese engineers for a system running in the bigger cities of China.

This past Friday, the Christian Democrat party section’s board of Berlin voted in favor of a maglev route between the city and the new international airport nearby. Unlike the usual opponents of the technology, who always present allegedly sky-rocketing costs as one of their main arguments, the Berlin CDU has calculated that construction of a maglev system would cost €30 million per kilometer of track, whereas a subway system would cost €200 million per kilometer. Most likely, also for Berlin, the Max Bögl System MBS would run in Berlin, a train that would have a capacity of 127 passengers and run at speeds of 150 kph maximally. After years of delay, the new airport near Berlin will open in October this year. A maglev connection to the city may be available two years later, if the decision to build is taken soon.