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TIL the UK built a working hovertrain prototype in the 1970s and then abandoned it (www.youtube.com)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/fuckcars@lemmy.world
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[–] 9 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

Taking the french Aérotrain advantages:

  • Higher speed (due to inexistant rail drag)
  • More comfortable
  • Less noise
  • Faster braking
  • Way cheaper rails and maintenance (just concrete rails that don’t get rolled on, no steel)
  • Rails can be easily elevated, taking less space on the ground and avoiding intersections with roads as well as landlocking. Basically, you can cross fields without bothering farmers too much
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  • [–] 5 points 1 year ago

    The trouble is you have to replace existing infrastructure which means as soon as you start ripping up old rail lines you can no longer run traditional trains so the level of service is actually going to go down not up. Hence why it was abandoned.

    Any revolutionary train technology is going to have to work on the existing infrastructure, or it's not going to happen regardless of how revolutionary it might otherwise be.

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