Canada's High Speed Train - The Turbo Train 1968-1982
A new video of the CN Turbo train which ran between Toronto and Montreal in 3hrs and 59minutes.
Magnovate - Maglev technology for the World
Magnovate Transportation
Magnovate Transportation Inc. was founded in 2013 to commercialize Magline, a patented magnetic levitation (maglev) technology, a green, quiet, and cost-efficient power system.
Magnovate founder is Edmonton entrepreneur Dan Corns.
Over the next 5 years Magnovate plans to execute a series of strategically timed projects for early adopters of this new technology. The Company proposes to progress over a period of years from building slow-speed systems ranging from $30-$200 million CAD to high-speed rail projects costing billions.
Magnovate is the lynchpin of a consortium that includes several multi-billion dollar international industrial leaders, Magna, Stantec, All-Trade Industrial Contractors, and Plenary Group who are assisting Magnovate with project delivery, marketing, financing, and global expansion.
The Consortium has contracted with the Toronto Zoo to build an elevated system at that facility as its first demonstration project. Magnovate will continue to pursue automated people mover (APM) opportunities especially where clients seeking contracts already own the rights-of-way.
Marketing efforts will focus first on niche segments, primarily APMs and internal circulation systems for major activity centers (MACCS), then airport and other remote parking links, and commuter rail systems. In 3 to 5 years, the Company intends to compete for major rail contracts, shifting focus to the competitive advantages of its unique mix of high-speed capability, fast-switching capability, and lightweight guideway infrastructure and rolling stock.
We will look at the Magnovate in detail in several articles by utilizing company supplied information.
Owing to the advantages of maglev suspension and drivetrains over conventional steel-on-steel and to Magline’s advancements over conventional maglev, Magnovate offers a range of competitive advantages. Chief among these are the following:
Magline replaces heavy trains pulled by locomotives with high capacity platoons of individual light weight vehicles that can run on light weight guideways and bridges
Magline replaces steel-on-steel pounding and fast wearing components with frictionless drives
Electric power translates into flexible fuel capability
Magline passenger and freight vehicles move quietly
Fast magnetic switches eliminate expensive and slow mechanical switching
High speed operations improve convenience and attract more riders
Magline is an on-demand mobility platform that abandons the railroad paradigm in favor of a networked packet switching model. The technology uses four different technology features to address various ground transit problems. The four are:
1. Maglev: For 40 years maglev trains have proven the feasibility of frictionless transport at near aircraft speeds on invisible magnetic waves.
2. Large Levitations Gaps: The large levitation gaps generated by Magnovate’s patented levitation system provide generous guideway settling tolerances which reduces infrastructure cost by eliminating the need for heavy precision guideways.
3. Instant Track Switching: Magline has the only passive and purely magnetic switching capability for maglev. This vastly expands the potential for building maglev “networks,” not just lines.
4. Automated Controls: Magline eliminates trains and instead quickly deploys automated single vehicles on demand. Automation increases performance and safety while greatly reducing operating cost. Without the need to carry operators or run “in train” (physically coupled cars), vehicles can be shrunk to a fraction of the size and weight of railroad vehicles with lower manufacturing cost per seat.
Taken together, combinations of these features transform maglev from a novelty propulsion system to a practical on-demand transportation platform. Magnovate deploys these proprietary improvements to unlock maglev’s original promise of speed, energy efficiency and route flexibility and it does so at greatly reduced infrastructure cost relative to traditional high speed rail and conventional maglev.
Magline networks consist of computer controlled driverless vehicles of various sizes and configurations typically operated along an elevated guideway. Unlike conventional transit systems that operate as a line or loop, Magline networks connect multiple destinations over a larger service area via multiple paths (not necessarily in line).
Conventional trains stop at each station along their set route, according to a fixed schedule. People must wait for them. Stops delay everyone on the train, even those not using that station, and delay the trains behind them. As shown below, Magline networks have off-line stations (on short parallel guideways) so that vehicles with no disembarking passengers can bypass stations without stopping.
Each vehicle travels point-to-point in response to passenger demand (ticket purchase) and network loads, eliminating irrelevant stops along the way, with generally no fixed timetable. Magline vehicles thus wait for people. Computers optimize each vehicle’s routing to align with demand, eliminating heavy “trains.” Individual cars are much lighter and consequently the support infrastructure is also lighter, less expensive and faster to construct.
We will look at the Magnovate in detail in several articles by utilizing company supplied information.
Competitive Advantages
Owing to the advantages of maglev suspension and drivetrains over conventional steel-on-steel and to Magline’s advancements over conventional maglev, Magnovate offers a range of competitive advantages. Chief among these are the following:
Magline replaces heavy trains pulled by locomotives with high capacity platoons of individual light weight vehicles that can run on light weight guideways and bridges
- Light weight vehicles and infrastructure cost 80% less to build
- Narrow transit corridors require 90% less land, dramatically reducing ROW costs
Magline replaces steel-on-steel pounding and fast wearing components with frictionless drives
- Nearly eliminates mechanical wear because it has only a tiny fraction of the moving parts
- 80% less to maintain
- Enables condition-based, scheduled maintenance instead of fast-response failure repairs
Electric power translates into flexible fuel capability
- Operators can power Magline with their choice of fossil fuels
- Or switch to renewable resources such as solar, wind, and hydro
- Consume 30% less energy
Magline passenger and freight vehicles move quietly
- Protects farmlands with livestock and wild places under preservation restrictions
- Planners can integrate Magline without compromising property values and livability
Fast magnetic switches eliminate expensive and slow mechanical switching
- Facilitates high-throughput express service
- On-demand service
- Vastly improved routing flexibility
High speed operations improve convenience and attract more riders
- Require far less rolling stock to achieve the same passenger throughput
- Or significantly higher throughput capacity with the same number of vehicles
- Shorter waiting times either way
Magline Technology
Magline is an on-demand mobility platform that abandons the railroad paradigm in favor of a networked packet switching model. The technology uses four different technology features to address various ground transit problems. The four are:
1. Maglev: For 40 years maglev trains have proven the feasibility of frictionless transport at near aircraft speeds on invisible magnetic waves.
2. Large Levitations Gaps: The large levitation gaps generated by Magnovate’s patented levitation system provide generous guideway settling tolerances which reduces infrastructure cost by eliminating the need for heavy precision guideways.
3. Instant Track Switching: Magline has the only passive and purely magnetic switching capability for maglev. This vastly expands the potential for building maglev “networks,” not just lines.
4. Automated Controls: Magline eliminates trains and instead quickly deploys automated single vehicles on demand. Automation increases performance and safety while greatly reducing operating cost. Without the need to carry operators or run “in train” (physically coupled cars), vehicles can be shrunk to a fraction of the size and weight of railroad vehicles with lower manufacturing cost per seat.
Taken together, combinations of these features transform maglev from a novelty propulsion system to a practical on-demand transportation platform. Magnovate deploys these proprietary improvements to unlock maglev’s original promise of speed, energy efficiency and route flexibility and it does so at greatly reduced infrastructure cost relative to traditional high speed rail and conventional maglev.
Magline Networks
Magline networks consist of computer controlled driverless vehicles of various sizes and configurations typically operated along an elevated guideway. Unlike conventional transit systems that operate as a line or loop, Magline networks connect multiple destinations over a larger service area via multiple paths (not necessarily in line).
Conventional trains stop at each station along their set route, according to a fixed schedule. People must wait for them. Stops delay everyone on the train, even those not using that station, and delay the trains behind them. As shown below, Magline networks have off-line stations (on short parallel guideways) so that vehicles with no disembarking passengers can bypass stations without stopping.
Each vehicle travels point-to-point in response to passenger demand (ticket purchase) and network loads, eliminating irrelevant stops along the way, with generally no fixed timetable. Magline vehicles thus wait for people. Computers optimize each vehicle’s routing to align with demand, eliminating heavy “trains.” Individual cars are much lighter and consequently the support infrastructure is also lighter, less expensive and faster to construct.
Multimodal Services
Remembering the 2007 Alstom SNCF High Speed Rail Speed Record
Remembering the 2007 Alstom/ SNCF French TGV train world record speed of 574.8 km/h (357.2 mph), achieved on 3 April 2007 on the then new LGV Est.
Understanding the Alstom - Bombardier Deal from A Canadian Prospective
As I drove by the abandoned Rona home improvement store in my community, I wondered if the sale of Bombardier to Alstom would result in substantial job losses in Canada. In 2016, the American hardware giant Lowe’s bought Quebec-based Rona Inc. The result was the closing of 34 stores.
In 2017, the transportation giants France based multinational Alstom and Germany based multinational Siemens AG wanted to merge to fight off the growing threat of the national Chinese rail company, China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation (CRRC). Bombardier was also trying to merge with Siemens AG. Siemens AG picked Alstom to merge their train divisions with. European competition authorities nixed the idea.
Now France-based multinational Alstom has come to an agreement to buy the half-a-century-old train division of Bombardier Transportation for US $6.7 billion.
According to the Montreal Gazette newspaper, the deal will see the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec become Alstom’s biggest shareholder by converting its minority Bombardier Transportation holding onto shares of the acquirer and making an additional investment of 700 million euros ($1 billion). As a result, the Caisse will own about 18 percent of Alstom and control two board seats. But what does the proposed sale really mean to the average Canadian citizen?
BOMBARDIER IS IN A FREE FALL
Despite what the chief executive officer Alain Bellemare of Bombardier states about the company turning around, it is in a free fall.
The company's long-term debt in 2018 was $9 billion (US).
When the Alstom/Bombardier merger is approved the company will only sell business jets. Here is a partial list of the liquidation of Bombardier assets:
- C Series jet sold to Airbus SE
- Toronto’s Downsview facility sold
- Turboprop passenger plane line sold to Viking Air
- Wing-making factory in Belfast sold to the US aerospace manufacturer Spirit Aerosystems
- CRJ regional-jet program to Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries
- Aerostructures business to Spirit AeroSystems for US$591 million
- Flight Training Centre sold to CAE Inc.
A HISTORY OF PUBLIC DOLLARS - HANDOUTS COULDN’T SAVE IT
Montreal Economic Institute has estimated that Bombardier has received nearly $4 billion in public money from the federal and provincial governments. Plus, Bombardier received another $11 billion in Export Development Canada (EDC) loans to help its customers buy their planes and rail cars. More recent handouts were:
2015 -$1.3 billion from Quebec provincial government
2016 $54 million to a Bombardier led consortium
2017 - $372 million from the federal government
Pro High Speed Rail Candidate Glen Murray Enters Green Party Race
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| Glen Murray National Green Party Leader Candidate |
Good news in the race to replace Elizabeth May as national leader of the Green Party of Canada. Glen Murray former Winnipeg Mayor and Ontario MPP Glen Murray has entered the race to replace her. In this introductory comments entering into the race he once again talked about his passion for high speed rail to be built in Canada.
Supporters of high speed rail in Canada will remember in 2014 then Ontario Transportation Minister Glen Murray was part of the then Liberal government that promoted the Toronto-Kitchener-London high-speed rail line.
Let us hope that Glen can win the leadership race for the Greens and restore a national voice for high speed trains in Canada.
List of Ontario - Quebec High Speed Rail Studies Updated to 24 by High Speed Rail Canada
highspeedrail.ca Media Release (04/30/2020) Cambridge, ON - High Speed Rail Canada (HSRC) is Canada's only educational resource dedicated to promoting the modernization of passenger rail in Canada.
Their mandate is to educate people on the benefits of modern passenger rail. They do it through their website http://www.highspeedrailcanada.com, Youtube channel, Facebook, Twitter @HSRCanada and public educational sessions.
Paul Langan continues to review previous high speed rail studies done in Canada and load them on the HSRC website.
Mr. Langan states, "We now have a list of 24 previous Ontario - Quebec high speed rail studies on our website with links in french and english to a significant number of them. We also have studies of Alberta and British Columbia related to high speed rail. Our mandate is to educate people on the past and present. Allowing the public to access the list and download the studies is important to us."
Here is the LINK to the studies. For more information on High Speed Rail Canada, go to their website or contact their founder Paul Langan at highspeedrailcanada@yahoo.ca or 226-505-7605.
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