Essay

Thesis: Maglev trains will be the future of transportation providing benefits for the environment, society, and economic benefits.

In our world today we have many problems. Problems that we are facing are environmental, social, and economic issues. This is due to the fact that traveling to work has become a hassle and when your using your car it also causes environmental damage. When people travel in their cars they have to fill it up with gas, which we have seen, gas prices increasing tremendously. This causes social problems because people don’t want to travel because it’s too expensive. The environmental problems we have are the fact that CO2 emissions are polluting over environment and causing harm to everyone. The result of this is global warming which is affecting our environment and society. Economic issues are the fact that importing and exporting oil is expensive. This is why we need to find an alternative. That’s why Maglev trains will be the future of transportation providing benefits for the environment, society, and economic benefits.

Maglev trains use electromagnets, which make the train levitate. This causes the train to cause no friction and “may be a travel solution of the future”. This means that it doesn’t cause any noise pollution, which is great for ecosystems living around the track and also benefits society because then they don’t have to here the noise of the train, which most people find annoying. Personally I live right by the GO station and I here every train that comes in and at nighttime I also here them, which gets annoying at times. Different forms of transportation are also provided to get to work and vacation. “Air travel has become more and more of a hassle. Airports are, by necessity, located far from the centers of cities, making trips to just to get to them long and arduous”. Maglev trains travel at faster speeds then buses and regular trains. “The lack of friction that is inherent in the operation of a maglev train, plus its aerodynamic design, means that such trains can travel in excess of 310 miles an hour, twice as fast as the fastest conventional train”. This good for society because it makes traveling less noisy and much faster. In our world we rely on “time” to get things done and traveling from place to place takes a lot of time and with the Maglev train we could speed the process up and have more time to get work done, spend time with family, and traveling to places much faster and enjoy our holidays.

“China is trying to lower there cost on building Maglev trains. Our aim is to limit the cost of each kilometer of MAGLEV line to approximately 200 million Yuan ($25 million)”. “As of right now it cost 310 million Yuan ($39 million) per kilometer to build”. By doing this they could use that extra money to towards other problems. Right now China has a big problem with pollution. By creating Maglev trains it will reduce CO2 emissions by a lot, benefiting society and the environment. When Maglev trains are compared to regular trains it shows that they use much less energy and produce less CO2 emissions. A regular train at 125 mph uses 29 watt-hours per km compared to Maglev train, which only uses 22 watt-hours per km. “Transrapid (Maglev) consumes less energy while providing the same output as high-speed railroads”. The Maglev trains are much safer then regular trains, which have many accidents. “The maglev train is also extremely reliable having not mechanical contact points with a track to wear out, or any electrical pick up cables”. This is good for society because it provide safety, also the environment because it doesn’t use any “electrical cables”, which lowers CO2 emissions. All of these factors we need to take into consideration because we need to protect our society from accidents happening, like derails. “Noise pollution adversely effects the local environment for those that live in it, and can have a detrimental effect on destroying a local ecosystem”.

Maglev trains cannot only be used to transport people but also “freight”. Maglev is a much better way to move people and freight than existing modes. “It is cheaper, faster, not congested”. This benefits society, business, and the economy. By doing this we can move people faster from one place to another. For business they can move product around much faster rather then relying on trucks (which takes a long time plus they cause CO2 emissions) because using Maglev they can deliver products faster and more efficiently to consumers. This benefits the consumer because they can get their product much faster. It also provides economic benefit because instead of spending lots of money on trucks, gas, and employees to deliver the product they can use the Maglev train. “Maglev operating costs will be only 3 cents per passenger mile and 7 cents per ton-mile, compared to 15 cents per passenger mile for airplanes, and 30 cents per ton-mile for intercity trucks”. By lowering the cost business can make more profit. I have also stated before the safety of the Maglev train is much better then any other form of transportation. “Maglev has major safety advantages over highway vehicles, trains, and airplanes. The distance between Maglev vehicles on a guide way, and the speed of the vehicles, are automatically controlled and maintained by the frequency of the electric power fed to the guide way. “There is no possibility of collisions between vehicles on the guide way”. Protecting society should be our number one focus. If society doesn’t feel safe then they wouldn’t travel and that would cause damage towards our economy. Maglev trains are expensive to build but I believe the benefits of it outweigh the cost. For example the Maglev train could make a 14-hour train into 4 hours . If maglev trains were created in other parts of the world people could travel much easier and they wouldn’t have to use cars, which also lowers CO2. Millions of people travel to work and if we implemented the Maglev it would make going to work faster, better for the environment, and better for society.

In conclusion I can state that Maglev trains are something we should consider in our future. It has many social, environmental, and economic benefits. With global warming on the rise we need to look for alternatives to save the environment. Maglev trains produce almost zero CO2 emission. They travel at fast speeds, which benefits the consumer because they can get to places much faster. It can also be used to move goods from one place to another. “Enthusiasts are hailing maglev as a practical alternative to short-haul airlines”. As you can see Maglev trains will be the future of transportation providing benefits for the environment, society, and economic benefits.

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