The Future I hope

Interesting story this morning. I would like to see a network of these in the US with a loop running across country basically like a conveyor belt with trains running evry 15 minutes. Locate the track thru scenic areas and take a 10 hour bump free ride to the other coast.

"Tests are key phase for commercialization of maglev electric transportation
systems

WESTBOROUGH, Mass., Dec. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- American
Superconductor Corporation (Nasdaq: AMSC), a leading electricity solutions
company, announced today that Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central)
successfully ran its magnetically levitated ("maglev") train system for the
first time utilizing high temperature superconductor (HTS) electromagnetic
coils powered by American Superconductor's HTS wire. The maglev train attained
speeds as high as 500 kilometers per hour (approximately 311 miles per hour),
while levitated about 10 centimeters (4 inches) above its "track."
Superconductor electromagnets are used as the lifting component in JR
Central's maglev train system. The test runs are an important step in the
commercialization process for maglev electric transportation systems.
The maglev train is the vehicle being considered for Japan's Chuo
Shinkansen, a main transportation route connecting Tokyo to Osaka. JR Central
has been running its maglev trains since 1997 utilizing low temperature
superconductor (LTS) electromagnets. HTS electromagnets offer several
advantages over LTS electromagnets including a much less complex cooling
system allowing simpler designs, lower costs and more reliability. Additional
testing and analysis are required in order for HTS electromagnets to be chosen
as the preferred solution for maglev trains. AMSC estimates that the total
potential HTS wire requirement for a full, commercial maglev train system for
the Tokyo-Osaka run exceeds 100 million meters (62,137 miles). "