5 years ago today, September 22 is known as the Transrapid disaster where 23 people died when dispatchers released the Transrapid Train that morning for additional tour and train testing; while forgetting that there was still a maintenance vehicle (a truck type vehicle that uses an engine and rolls along the top of the track checking the long stator motor wiring) on the track. German investigators determined that there were human errors that allowed the train to go out onto the track.
Karl-Heinz Weber (CDU) says the following about the future of the Lathen track in Germany.
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.welt.de%2Fprint%2Fdie_welt%2Fhamburg%2Farticle13615220%2FTransrapid-Teststrecke-ist-ohne-Zukunft.html
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Municipality mayor, Karl-Heinz Weber (CDU) are themselves sober. "Like everything in life is also the test facility is limited in time," he says. As it stands, probably at the end of the year is finally closing on the test track. Weber tries to see the positives: after all, there is an operable vehicle, and he hoped that it succeed, to build on the Canary island of Tenerife a distance. "Personally, I think it's a shame," he says, and he means not only does it in his community, an era comes to an end - but also that there are no users track in Germany.One should not be surprised that it was never able to market the Magnetzug international if it does not even give the country a regular use.
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So, can it be true?
With the possibility of future projects still on the drawing boards (and no current movement)... Tenerife (SPAIN), Rio (for the Olympics), Ca-Nv; Chattanooga - Atlanta; Pittsburgh; Baltimore-Washington (USA), Ultraspeed (UK), Swiss Rapide (Switzerland) is the Transrapid in its final stages and marketing up to its partners Siemens/ThyssenKrup?
Questions that only Siemens/ThyssenKrup can answer. Which everyone is hoping for.
Keep Flying On The Ground!
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