The goal of using magnets to achieve high speed travel with non-contact magnetically levitated vehicles is almost a century old. In the early 1900's, Bachelet in France and Goddard in the United States discuss the possibility of using magnetically levitated vehicles for high speed transport. However, they do not propose a practical way to achieve this goal.

On August 14, 1934, Hermann Kemper of Germany receives a patent for the magnetic levitation of trains. Research continues after World War II. In the 1970s and 1980s, development, commissioning, testing and implementation of various MagLev Train systems continues in Germany by Thyssen Henschel. The Germans name their MagLev system "Transrapid".

In 1966, in the USA, James Powell and Gordon Danby propose the first practical system for magnetically levitated transport, using superconducting magnets located on moving vehicles to induce currents in normal aluminum loops on a guideway. The moving vehicles are automatically levitated and stabilized, both vertically and laterally, as they move along the guideway. The vehicles are magnetically propelled along the guideway by a small AC current in the guideway.

In 1992, the Federal Government in Germany decides to include the 300 km long superspeed MagLev system route Berlin-Hamburg in the 1992 Federal Transportation Master Plan.

In June of 1998, the US congress passes the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA 21). The law includes a MagLev deployment program allocating public funds for preliminary activities with regard to several projects and, later on, further funds for the design, engineering and construction of a selected project. For the fiscal years 1999 - 2001, $55 million are provided for the MagLev deployment program. An additional $950 million are budgeted for the actual construction of the first project. In November of 1999, the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology and Transrapid International sign a letter of intent to select a suitable Transrapid route in the People's Republic of China and evaluate its technical and economic feasibility.

In January of 2001, in the US, Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater selects the Pittsburgh and the Washington - Baltimore routes for detailed environmental and project planning. Later that month in China, a contract is concluded between the city of Shanghai and the industrial consortium consisting of Siemens, ThyssenKrupp, and Transrapid International to realize the Shanghai airport link. In March, the construction of the Shanghai project begins.

Currently, the original Powell-Danby MagLev inventions form the basis for the MagLev system in Japan, which is being demonstrated in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. Powell and Danby have subsequently developed new Maglev inventions that form the basis for their second generation M-2000 System. Other MagLev Train systems are in the planning and development stages in various cities in the US, including projects in Georgia, California and Pennsylvania.

In the future, Maglev promises to be the major new mode of transport for the 21st Century and beyond because of its energy efficiency, environmental benefits and time-saving high velocity transport. Because there is no mechanical contact between the vehicles and the guideway, speeds can be extremely high. Traveling in the atmosphere, air drag limits vehicles to speeds of about 300 - 350 mph. Traveling in low pressure tunnels, MagLev vehicles can operate at speeds of thousands of miles per hour.

The energy efficiency of Maglev transport, either in kilowatt-hours per passenger mile for personal transport, or kilowatt hours per ton-mile for freight, is much lower for MagLev than for autos, trucks, and airplanes. It is pollution free, can use renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power, and in contrast to oil and gas fueled transport, does not contribute to global warming. It is weather independent, and can carry enormous traffic loads - both people and goods - on environmentally friendly, narrow guideways. The cost of moving people and goods by MagLev will be considerably less than by the present modes of auto, truck, rail, and air.

In addition to dramatically improving transport capabilities on Earth, MagLev has the potential to greatly reduce the cost of launching payloads into space. While it presently costs $10,000 per pound to orbit payloads using rockets, the energy cost to orbit that same pound would be only 50 cents per pound, if it were magnetically accelerated to orbital velocity. As ultra high velocity magnetic launchers are developed, the cost of reaching space will come down to everyday, mass market standards.

These and additional applications such as MagLev for mining, the Water Train and others to come will guarantee MagLev an important place in transportation history.