Citation

Geerlings H. Transp. Plann. Tech. 1998; 21(4): 263-286.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1998, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/03081069808717612

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Since the late 1970s, rail transport has made a comeback with the introduction of highspeed trains. Before then, trains had a speed of only 100?130 km/h. Today trains can achieve regularly three times those speeds and national railway organisations feel the pressure for reorganisation to improve the quality of services. Japan and Europe are the places where the high?speed rail revolution is taking place. But we also see a tendency to base these high speed line systems on national rail standards. At the same time we observe new developments, which are likely to lead to a technological breakthrough, comparable with the development of the steamship, conventional train or automobile. This new system, called Maglev, is based on the principle of magnetic levitation. More than ever before, the chances of success for this new technology depend on the outcome of competition with improved conventional rail technologies. In this paper the present development of high speed rail systems in Europe, Japan and the United States is presented. After providing some theoretical insights developed by Kondratieff and Schumpeter, based on cyclic effects in the economy and waves in technological development, the state?of?the?art and crucial characteristics of the Maglev system are described. Finally an assessment and synthesis of the factors of success and failure is presented. Explicit emphasis is given to the interdisciplinary aspects of and the implications for technology policy.