High Hopes for Transrapid's Future

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This is certainly a serious blow to maglev, but hopefully German officials will get to the heart of what caused the tragedy. Their will be attempts to stop maglev, but if handled openly and correctly, it will go on and grow and be better for the experience. Every new technology has its first-use tragedies, i.e., the airplane, the rocket, the space shuttle, even the automobile. -- Georg Kniss, USA

The Transrapid project should NOT be abandoned because of the untypical absence of a failsafe mechanism / technology. -- William Wirthmann

I'm sorry to hear about the crash of the Transrapid and express my sympathy to the victims and their families. But considering the human error angle of the crash and the relatively accident-free operation over the >20 years they have been testing it and the operation in Shanghai, the casualty number is relatively low and the survival rate (~30 percent) relatively high, comparing the incident to airplane, car/bus and conventional railway crashes. -- Best of all: there was NO FIRE (because there is no fuel on board). This looks like a typical screw-up, just like the only two accidents of the Wuppertaler Schwebebahn were. The service car was on the Transrapid track by stupid negligence. Another detail that probably contributed to the casualty number: in the shots of Transrapid interiors I could not detect seat belts. One cannot offer any new cars without them, every airplane has them. The interior safety standards of the Transrapid should be at least as good as the TÜV and most other safety control bodies worldwide require for cars: seatbelts and airbags. Another well-known safety enhancement: all seats should face backwards! Anything less is criminal negligence. Too bad that now it's going to be even less likely that we will see a Transrapid line in Germany, but you can bet there will be MANY in Asia. The Chinese are already talking about one from Beijing to Singapore via Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur and a possible extension to India, and on to Europe. I'd love to take the Transrapid (or its Chinese copy) to propel me from my old home town Köln to Bangkok and Shanghai at 500 km/h before I die! If the Trans-Siberian railway could be built almost 100 years ago, why not now a Trans-Eurasian-Express? Airplanes are old tech, airports now are protective detention camps for travelers, with ever-bigger, megalomaniac super-jumbo airplanes serving as paddy wagons. Everybody I know HATES to fly. The new transportation systems have to be clean, fast, frequent, punctual, energy-efficient, environmentally and ethically acceptable, comfortable, low-hassle and humane. Only the maglev principle will make this possible. -- Dr Jerry Hess, San Diego, CA, USA

I love all types of trains, and I think that the Transrapid represents the future of high-speed railway. I hope that Siemens will continue the researches in this field despite all difficulties. -- Doru Pop-Beg

I am very sad regarding this crash with the maglev train. It is a pity because this "Projekt Zukunft" is very good for big cities and to link airport to downtown. -- Rogerio Petres, Belo Horizonte, Brazil