Riding the Linimo: The train tech of tomorrow
Mon 26 Mar 07 04:16 | Tags: Hardware, Japan
In the spring and summer of 2005, the Japanese prefecture of Aichi was home to Expo 2005, the World's Fair for that year. The fair's theme was "nature's wisdom," or, more explicitly, the use of new technological advances to reduce the environmental impact of current industries. The choice for this as a theme was likely inspired by the fact that Aichi is an industrial heart of Japan, as the home of the Toyota car company and other industries; the fact that "Aichi" can (incorrectly) be written using the characters 愛 ai, "love," and 地 chi, "Earth," may have been a factor as well. Ironically, a large area of forest and grasslands had to be cleared and paved over to accommodate the fairgrounds, to the chagrin of Japanese environmental groups…
The Linimo hovers eight millimeters above its specially-designed tracks. (image source)
A new train line needed to be built to connect the nearby major city of Nagoya with the fairgrounds. In keeping with the environmental theme, the new line utilized magnetic levitation. As the name implies, magnetic levitaiton, or maglev, is a technology by which electromagnets are used to levitate the train above the track and propel it. This means that no part of the moving train is in contact with the stationary track, effectively eliminating the effect of friction between the wheels and the track on a traditional train. Without this friction, maglev trains are much more efficient and capable of higher speeds than traditional trains.
Take, for example, the Shanghai Maglev Train. This was the first commercial high-speed maglev train, opening on New Year's Day in 2004. This two-station line connects Shanghai's subway system with Pudong International Airport, with 19 miles (30.5 km) of track. It can cover that length in under eight minutes, achieving a top speed of 268 MPH (431 km/h) during normal operation.
However, back in Aichi, the designs for the new maglev train line were a bit more modest. Dubbed the Linimo (リニモ), this train line could be considered more of a maglev interpretation of a low-speed metro system instead of a high-speed system Shanghai needed. The line's western terminus is Fujigaoka Station, which is also the eastern terminus of one of Nagoya's major subway lines. From there it makes stops at four new, fairly small stations in the sparsely-populated area of eastern Aichi before reaching the edge of the fairgrounds. It traces the fairgrounds for three more stations before stopping abruptly at its eastern terminus, near the eastern edge of the grounds; that's nine stations in total. The train achieves the more meager top speed of 62 MPH (100 km/h).
During the period of the Expo, which saw larger than expected attendance figures, the Linimo system, being the only train link between Nagoya and the fairgrounds, saw very heavy traffic; at times the train was packed so full that it was unable to fully levitate, and some riders had to be asked to get off and wait for the next train to come. After the Expo ended, the line was kept in operation to serve the people who lived in the area.
I lived in Nagoya from the spring of 2005 to the spring of 2006. As I was quite busy, poor and confused when I first came to Japan, I did not attend the Expo while it was open; and I had little other reason to venture east of my home area of Chikusa ward; all of the major shopping, entertainment and work areas are in the western part of the prefecture. However, as it became apparent that I would be coming back home in April of 2006, I decided the Linimo line was something I should check out before I left; so I rode it for its entire length and back, and took lots of pictures along the way. Those pictures, like others I took of my stay in Japan, have fallen into a digital void, but you can check out lots of pictures taken by others on the Linimo page at Wikimedia Commons.(UPDATE: I've since found the pictures; check 'em out here.)
I boarded the train at the Fujigaoka station, the western terminal. The trains, as well as all of the stations besides the Fujigaoka one, are noticeably clean and new, as is to be expected; one can tell that they've seen less of the wear and tear of being packed with millions of daily commuters as the older trains and stations have. (The Fujigaoka station is an exception because, as I mentioned above, it was a pre-existing terminus for the Nagoya subway system.)
Interestingly, I noticed that there was not a conductor for the trains. There is a little area with controls presumably for piloting the train, but I was quite surprised to see the doors close and the train take off without a conductor climbing in and taking their position in this area. It turns out that the trains are unmanned; apparently there's a crew member at each station that monitors the platforms of the station via cameras and controls the opening and closing of the train doors and the taking-off of the train from there. The train otherwise accelerates and decelerates by itself.
So how does it ride? As you might expect, it's quite a bit quieter than a standard train; no click-clack, click-clack of the train wheels as it rolls over seams in the tracks, no loud skreeee from the brakes as the train slows down to take a curve or enter a station. There was less crowd noise as well; as I mentioned, eastern Aichi is sparsely populated, so few people use the line now that the Expo is over, and I was also there fairly early in the day on a Sunday as well -- not typically prime time for train line traffic. At times, I was the only passenger in my car or in the stations. (I've heard the low traffic for the line means that the Linimo is no longer financially solvent, but I don't know if that's true; the line is still open, anyway.) The train "feels" slower than other passenger trains, but I suspect part of the reason for that is that the stations are fairly close together; the train can't spend much time at top speed before it has to start decelerating for the next station. The experience is actually a little bit underwhelming for something that is definitely a major milestone in the implementation of next-generation train technology if you take it at face value… But maybe someone who is more of a "train nerd" would get into it more.
So what's next for maglev trains? There are various proposed maglev lines around the world in various stages of design and construction. Not to be showed up by Japan's maglev appearance in their Expo, Shanghai is actually building a second high-speed line to coincide with the Expo 2010, which they will host. There are some significant obstacles to their adoption, however; mostly stemming from the fact that maglev and traditional trains cannot use the same tracks. This is why all major maglev projects past and present are entirely new train lines instead of replacement of traditional lines; the cost and inconvenience of stopping train service on a line already in operation in order to replace the traditional tracks with maglev tracks is prohibitive.
Still, research and development in the field continues. The major limiting factors to the efficiency of a standard train are friction with the track and air resistance; with the track friction gone with maglev trains, some have speculated that the air resistance factor could be mitigated by placing the train in an airtight tube and removing some of the air, creating a partial vacuum. Under these conditions, with air resistance minimized, maglev trains should be able to break the sound barrier; 770 MPH (1238 km/h). Of course, there are safety issues with this; if a hole is made in the hull of the train, would all the air escape and cause everyone on board to suffocate?
Maglev trains are slowly turning from theoretical futuristic technology to a contemporary method of daily transportation. By any chance if you find yourself in central Japan and want to see tomorrow's train tech in action, head over to Nagoya and give the Linimo a ride. I'd be lying if I said it was exciting, but it certainly is interesting. (Be sure to have some tebasaki as well.)
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#1 | Garrett Albright | 26 Mar 07 08:40
Wow, I thought this article would be just a little five-paragraph jobber when I started. These articles really get out of hand sometimes…