(The Associated Press circulated the following on December 8.)
NORFOLK, Va. — Scientists are encouraged by an impromptu test of Old Dominion University’s magnetically levitated train, which moved without vibrating as it had in previous trial runs.
Stymied by years of failed experiments, maglev scientists decided to try some new methods they had been testing in the laboratory after they were told to move the train to make way for campus construction.
The scientists levitated the train multiple times over various parts of the elevated guideway, keeping it suspended in air about a half-inch on every try. And they moved it down the track by gravity because the guideway is on a slight tilt. The motor was never turned on.
The women’s soccer team, practicing on a nearby field, saw the train move.
“We moved it, then I could hear some noise _ cheers and whistles,” said Thomas Alberts, the aerospace engineering professor leading the research. He turned and saw team members facing the train with their arms raised in victory.
Lab experiments over the last two years have been successful. Among the changes made for last month’s test were switching computer controls from a centralized to a decentralized system and rebuilding sensors to monitor the gap between the train and the track much more often _ 14,000 times a second.
“I knew it would work,” Alberts said.
ODU originally was supposed to start using the maglev train to transport students across campus by 2002. When tested, the train levitated and moved, but instead of floating on a cushion of air it bumped, rattled and vibrated.
Technical problems, cost overruns, unpaid bills and lawsuits derailed the project.
With $16 million already spent, ODU took control of the project from its originator, Georgia-based American Maglev Technology Inc. ODU kicked in $94,000 to continue the research while other funding sources are sought. It’s no longer a transportation project but a research one, with a goal of producing a low-cost prototype.
ODU officials say the system could be years and millions of dollars away from being usable as mass transit.