(The Associated Press circulated the following article by David McHugh on September 22.)
MUNICH — A high-speed magnetic train went off a test track in northwestern Germany on Friday, killing one person and injuring up to 25, some seriously, police said, in a new blow to hopes for magnetic-levitation technology. A town councilman said the death toll could rise.
It was not immediately clear how fast the train was traveling. Trains using maglev technology can reach 270 mph. One such train in Shanghai caught fire last month.
The Transrapid train, carrying 29 people, apparently hit an obstacle on the tracks, police spokesman Martin Ratermann said. Firefighters were using ladders to reach the injured at the accident site on an elevated track.
“The magnetic levitation train is hanging halfway off” the track, said Helge Nestler, a police official.
Police spokesman Martin Ratermann said one person had died. Nestler said 25 people were injured, while another regional police department said 21 people were hurt.
The train is made by Transrapid International, a joint company of Siemens and ThyssenKrupp. The track, which runs between the towns of Lathen and Doerpen near the border with Holland, is operated by Munich-based IABG. Official from Transrapid International referred questions to IABG, where officials could not immediately be reached.
German Transport Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee postponed a trip to China to get a firsthand look at the accident site, spokesman Dirk Inger said.
Magnetic-levitation trains use powerful magnets to float the trains just above the tracks, allowing them to glide along without friction. Trains can reach 270 mph on the 20-mile test track.
The technology has been around for years but so far has not caught on as conventional train networks have expanded steadily. Concerns include the amount of electricity the trains use at high speed and the precision with which the tracks must be built.
The technology’s image was not helped by a fire that broke out in an electrical storage compartment aboard Shanghai’s magnetic-levitation train as it was headed toward the city’s international airport Aug. 11, generating large amounts of smoke but causing no injuries.
The Shanghai system is the world’s only commercially operating maglev train. Officials are studying the possibility of a line between Munich and its airport.