It is a superior technology but I understand that more than half the cost is in building the so called ‘track’.
The track apart from consisting of lots of magnets is largely a huge structure of concrete and steel that should the need arise support the entire length and weight of the train. So in reality engineers who have developed this system have excelled themselves but Governments and corporations can’t afford to foot the bill. So I think its back to the drawing boards for a more affordable geo-planetry system. I envisage this ‘train’ re-emerging some time later in new formats. Athough I am not an engineer but a creative thinker and I postulate that if engineers designed a smaller lighter version that could use a suspension system then the infrastucture costs could be dramatically reduced. Why not halve the width of the train ?
Alternatively why not consider a tube system then the line could be extruded across the landscape ?
Getting back to the presently designed track system though why not use it to launch aircraft from a ramp system, apparently even NASA is experimenting with this technology to launch into space. The technology itself ie maglev is an engine with no moving parts and no exhaust except for the furphy that it draws on existing power station tecnology which inthemselves are currently undergoing reinvention.
Anyway this technology so inspired me that I penned a little ode comemorating it :
Safety First
Planes fall out of the sky
Cars slide into fly
Trains skid off the track
Whereas Transrapid
Will always bring me back