Soviet Maglev: the future that did not happen

In 1979, two countries at once - West Germany and the USSR - launched experimental samples of passenger maglevs. Maglev (magnetic levitation) - a magnetic-cushioned train that hovers in the air while moving, without touching any support. The Germans made this a real advertisement - a maglev drove visitors to the International Transport Exhibition IVA along a short route. With us, advertising has always been bad, so the first Soviet maglev TP-01 traveled along the factory 36-meter highway.

What is maglev

Maglev is a magnetic cushion train; a magnetoplane is a train set in motion by a powerful electromagnetic field that simultaneously raises it above the road. The gap is quite small, about 15 mm (plus or minus), but still the maglev actually flies. No exhaust for you. No rumble of numerous wheelsets on rails, no roar of diesel engines or the humming of electric motors. By itself, the maglev moves silently, only at high speed — several hundred kilometers per hour — aerodynamic noise will arise.

The only thing that limits the maglev speed is the power of the magnets and the aerodynamic drag. That is, in theory, Maglevs can compete with medium-haul aircraft.

True, the technology has two important drawbacks: for the movement of maglevs, a separate road network needs to be laid, and the cost of building and maintaining one kilometer is much higher than that of traditional railway transport. On the other hand, this was partly compensated by the extremely low wear of the rolling stock - after all, the Maglev does not have a mechanical undercarriage, nothing turns, does not rub off, does not accumulate metal fatigue. In fact, a maglev is a capsule hanging above the road due to the repulsion of magnetic poles.

Soviet Maglev

In the 1970s, the urban population in the USSR grew rapidly. With it, the need to expand the transport network has also increased. Along with the "conservative" methods of solving the problem - for example, an increase in the fleet of traditional trains and aviation - more daring ideas were also considered. One of them was the project of passenger lines, on which magnetplanes of small capacity ply at high speed (compared to conventional electric trains). Of course, even the USSR could not afford to cover the whole country with a maglev network. But on some of the most loaded directions, the Maglevs could be economically viable.

In 1975, the Soyuztransprogress transport association was created, within the framework of which they organized the Institute VNIIPItransprogress. Engineers and scientists of this scientific research institute also were engaged in development of the progressive vehicle. And in 1979, simultaneously with the Germans, the first Soviet Maglev TP-01 drove along the factory test line.

TP-01 had a weight of 12 tons and could accommodate 20 passengers. In a short time, new test maglevs, TP-02 and 03, were created. They were tested on a 180-meter track in the Moscow region town of Ramenskoye, where VNIIPItransprogress was located. Soon the track was extended to 850 meters. Maglev TP-04 has become a mobile laboratory.

The successes demonstrated by the designers on the first samples made it possible to plan the creation of experimental lines on which the Maglevs would already carry passengers. The first republics with active Maglevs were to be the Kazakh and Armenian SSR. But then the Alma-Ata project was transformed into a subway, and Yerevan remained. The capital of the republic was planned to be connected with the city of Abovyan, located 16 km away. It was supposed to be a kind of a huge “sleeping area” of Yerevan, and Maglev seemed to be the ideal solution to the problem of transport accessibility.

In 1986, the engineers of VNIIPItransprogress created their last and most perfect maglev prototype - TP-05.

TP-05

One of the "highlights" of the design of TP-05 was the use of a chain of small magnets along the car. During its movement, the sensors measured the size of the gap between the car and the road, and the system changed the strength of the current on specific magnets, increasing or decreasing their repulsion. This compensated for the unevenness of the road and ensured a smooth ride.

Maglev had an aluminum case, weighed 18 tons and could carry 18 people. In principle, it could and more, just the rest of the volume was occupied by additional testing and measuring equipment. It was originally planned to test the TP-05 at speeds up to 100 km / h.

Yerevan Maglev was to become not only a test line, but also a kind of technological showcase. Even the choice of Abovyan as the final point of the route was not accidental: high-tech productions were created in this small town, and a considerable part of the population belonged to the scientific and technical intelligentsia.

Chassis.

We needed to “catch up with the West” - in 1984, the UK launched the first commercial maglev in the world, with a miserable length of 600 m, and in the same year in West Germany launched a test line of 31.5 km unmanned maglevs.

We had every chance of becoming one of the first countries creating and exploiting Maglevs. In 1986, we began the construction of an experimental line with a length of 3.2 km. The commissioning of the Soviet Maglev was planned for 1991. At first it was thought that the cars would move at a speed of 250 km / h and carry 64 people each. That is, 16 kilometers from Yerevan to Abovyan, Maglev was supposed to fly in about four minutes. But because of the available power of the traction electrical substation, which was supposed to power the line with electricity, the maximum speed had to be reduced to 180 km / h.

In 1987, the TP-05 was even filmed in the fantastic telenovela “They're not kidding with robots.”

Alas, but all plans went to pieces. Two years after the start of construction of the line, in 1988, the Spitak earthquake occurred . For half a minute the city of Spitak and dozens of villages were obliterated, at least 25 thousand people died under the rubble for several days, many industrial enterprises lay in ruins. For the restoration of Armenia, the forces of the whole country were thrown. In addition, in 1987-89, the flywheel of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict sped up rapidly. What kind of a maglev here ... And in 1991, the USSR was no more.

But an amazing thing - TP-05 managed to survive the 1990s. He still stands in the same workshop where he was assembled. He was not taken apart in parts, not sawn into a nonferrous metal. They say that it is worth it under a plastic film, to slightly restore it - and at least now to the museum of transport.