Maglev
The world's first commercial maglev system was a low-speed maglev shuttle that ran between the airport terminal of Birmingham International Airport and the nearby Birmingham International railway station between 1984 and 1995. Its track length was , and trains levitated at an altitude of , levitated by electromagnets, and propelled with linear induction motors. It operated for 11 years and was initially very popular with passengers, but obsolescence problems with the electronic systems made it progressively unreliable as years passed, leading to its closure in 1995. One of the original cars is now on display at Railworld in Peterborough, together with the RTV31 hover train vehicle. Another is on display at the National Railway Museum in York.
High-speed rail in India
The Andhra Pradesh state government has decided to build its metro train system in major cities using the Maglev technology. The Changsha Metro system was studied by a team to gain better understanding of running the metro using Maglev. Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam and Amaravati metro railway systems will be built using low speed Maglev train systems. It is expected make the industrial sector in the Andra Pradesh the most cost efficient and exports competitive in world market by reducing the logistics cost for the transport of people and freight. Maglev based metro systems improve the quality of life in cities and provide efficient, high-speed rail systems to generate far higher levels of economic output. This is expected to create an industrial base, hands-on expertise and lower costs for Maglev in India.