maglev

GemStone was beloved of most who used it, and it is poised to make a comeback through MagLev.

Yes, one could even argue evacuated tube trains with maglev are the most efficient for of transportation.

That does away with bearings by using a maglev train that stores 20GWh of energy.

Then, you have much longer continuous sections of rail/maglev equipment that contain releases on a far fewer number of span segments.

We already know how to toggle the magnets to produce forward motion (see maglev trains).

Whereas this maglev test demonstrated a technology that would be comfortably usable at this speed.

China is now building a low-speed maglev that should be operational later this year.

This appears more like a generic maglev system - except in a tube.

I believe Maglev itself is open source, but it relies on the GemStone/S VM, which is NOT open source.

At that point you might as well build lanes for maglev trains.

Planes have higher max speeds, but they're subject to weather delays and other issues that bring their average speeds down well into maglev territory.

Adding in the continuity of the rail/maglev structures are what make it hairy, IMO, and the interplay between seismic considerations and thermal considerations becomes important.

For modern non-maglev high-speed train (>300km/h top speed), 1500~2000km is the limit assuming "severe" airport security.

Maglev is patent encumbered and really only implemented by a solitary Japanese company with close ties to the Japanese government.

Maglev (a technology already deemed too expensive to deploy on the medium to large scale), and more so how much it will cost to make it safe.