Swissmetro
Encyclopedia
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
national transportation project using vactrain
Vactrain
A vactrain is a proposed, as-yet-unbuilt design for future high-speed railroad transportation. This would entail building maglev lines through evacuated or partly evacuated tubes or tunnels...
technology that went into liquidation in November 2009 because of a lack of support. Based on high-speed maglev train
Maglev train
Maglev , is a system of transportation that uses magnetic levitation to suspend, guide and propel vehicles from magnets rather than using mechanical methods, such as friction-reliant wheels, axles and bearings...
s travelling in low-pressure tunnels, the speeds would have been about 500 kilometres per hour.
Such trains would significantly lower the travel time between major cities in Switzerland. For example, the time between Bern and Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
could be reduced from the present 60 minutes by intercity train to a mere 12 minutes.
Although conclusive simulation tests have been done by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), the project is not likely to be restarted in the near future. Nevertheless, China has shown some interest, so the technology could emerge in other projects.