Mag-lev Transport

            For journeys of intermediate distance over land Mag-lev transport has become one of the most developed systems used in the Federation. Mag-lev offers advantages over the wheel, as the vehicle does not need to be in contact with a surface for propulsion the vehicle is only slowed from its resistance with the air, subsequently high speeds can be achieved with relatively little energy expended.

            The cost of this form of transportation is that specialised highways need to be constructed and supplied continuously with power, however these highways also serve another benefit also providing a physical line for the transmission of power and information to other cities. The Mag-lev highway is a rather complex device, but as its construction is modular the effort to construct a highways is predominantly to prepare the ground where it is to be laid, and assembling the track segments.

The highway itself is a linear motor, a series of electromagnets, however for propulsion a similar magnet set needs to be present on the vehicle, in operation the magnets ahead of the craft are one polarisation, and the magnets at the front of the vehicle the opposite, therefore an attraction is created, and forward motion is produced. There is also another aspect to this, the magnets immediately behind the vehicle switch polarisation to match the magnets at the rear of the vehicle, and a repulsion effect also pushes the craft forward.

In theory the whole highways could be switched to a continuously alternating sequence, every segment alternating polarity frequently, however as only segments of the highway carrying traffic need to produce magnetic fields there is a significant energy saving if only the magnets immediately around the vehicle are used to generate the propulsive field.

The vehicle carries aboard it a transponder that communicates with the highways, and this interaction produces the fields in that local part of the route to propel the craft, and also regulate the speed of the craft by weakening or strengthening the field. The process is effectively automatic no manual control is necessary and using the communication network beneath the road a computer system can coordinate the traffic automatically, all the driver needs to do is specify his target destination and the system automatically controls the route.

The energy to produce the vehicles own magnetic fields is gathered indirectly from the highway itself, along the centre lanes of route there is a long induction coil, there is also a small coil within the vehicle, once the vehicle is moving the induction coil in the vehicle takes energy from the coil in the road and the electrical power required for the vehicle’s magnets is transferred. This power system means that vehicles need only to carry a very small store of energy, enough top get them moving on the road, the rest of the power is gathered as the vehicle travels, and the faster it travels the more energy it receives.

The vehicles themselves can nearly be of any size, most Federation cities run ‘bus’ or ‘train’ services, using long multipassenger vehicles these allow for high speed multiple person transport which is more efficient that moving individuals in small vehicles. Small vehicles are also available carrying only a few passengers each, these tend to travel a little slower due to their own smaller field and induction coil set. Another type of vehicle bigger than the others carries freight, these vehicles are frequently hundreds of meters long, more like a train than a lorry, and have underneath them many alternating magnet sets and so can ride more than one wave of magnetic propulsion. All the vehicles are aerodynamically streamlined as this provides a smoother ride once speeds start getting above 300kmph, most vehicles can reach speeds of over 500kmph, though these are often restricted due to other traffic on the highway, especially if only a single dual carriageway is being used.

These vehicles are relatively safe, due to the fact that the system is automatic, and monitored every millisecond by the processing units in each magnet segment. Not only does the autonomy make this method of transport safe, the fact that the neither the vehicle or the road has any moving internal components, and is in effect a totally solid state system, component failure is rare, and sufficient redundancy in all systems mean that the vehicles are fail soft, and of course any collisions are of course avoided by the computing systems.

The highways are constructed from high temperature superconductor, which makes up the magnets, the induction coils, and the power cables, these components are then usually encased, or put inside boxes of reconstituted stone or carbon composite. As the vehicles do not need a surface to travel on there is no requirement to keep the top surface clear, though a clearance of any obstacles greater than 30cm is required so the vehicles do not collide with them. One popular use of the road surface is to plant it with alpine plants, whose height is sufficiently low to not obstruct any vehicles, and are similarly hardy to the winds generated by the passing vehicles, these planted surface look far more pleasing than the barren lines of grey stone, or black composite.

The highways also carry power cables, and communication relays, either acting as primary, or backup suppliers of these resources to the cities along its length. Most settlements apart from the very smallest or remotest, are linked by some form of Mag-lev highway, even if it is single tracked (there are sidings where vehicles can pass by each other), and are for most communities the main transportation system available to them (though larger cities may have wormhole transport). The highway usually braches off into the city, though these urban roads are much lower speed (for safety), though provide a local transport system. The roads may also be put underground, and are accessed by stations accessible from the surface above. This below ground system is most frequently adopted in large cities to reduce surface traffic (safer), or heritage places (does not spoil the view). Most citizens have walking access to a highway point (most people like to be near this transport method, though do not necessarily want it outside their front door), and at stations or specific highway points vehicles are always kept ready for passengers, however communication with the highway computer can summon a vehicle to any point, and if the vehicle is pre-arranged then the traveller can book a vehicle to be at a certain place at a certain time, removing any wait for a vehicle to be dispatched.

The Mag-lev system perhaps transports the most material and people than any other transport system set up in the Federation. Though wormhole networks are greatly used especially for interstellar travel, Mag-lev systems on every Federation world are daily moving equipment, people and materials, some half of Federation people claim to use this system at least once a day (may sound small but most people do not need to travel far for most of their daily needs), where as most people will seldom use wormhole, or spacecraft travel more than once a month. It is eventually foreseeable that developments in spatial distortion vehicles will one day produce a really competitive system to what Mag-lev has already provided us, allowing travel freely in all three dimension across any route, with no need for highways, but at the moment these vehicles are more energy expensive to run, more complex to build, and less safe than the existing Mag-lev system.