Some readers of TFA are also big proponents of maglev transportation. I always appreciate a note and a link, so here is the latest from Europe.
The biggest thing in high-speed maglev was announced yesterday in the world press: The reaching of a financing agreement between the major players for the first in-country commercial Transrapid maglev line in Germany. The project will be an airport connector in Munich, similar to the Shanghai shuttle system that’s been in operation since 2003.
Attached is the official press announcement and here are two links taken from many that appeared yesterday:
“Germany to build maglev railway,”“Germany to build first commercial Maglev train line,”
The press release is here.
Filed under: International High Speed Rail
Trains For America 
The Munich press release didn’t come through, so I’ve copied it here:
Press Release
Munich Transrapid Project Set in Motion
The state of Bavaria, the German Railways (Deutsche Bahn AG, DB AG) and the manufacturing consortium (GSV: Siemens, ThyssenKrupp, Max Boegl,et al ) have set the wheels in motion for implementing the Munich Transrapid project.
The main terms of reference are laid down in an implementation agreement signed by Edmund Stoiber, Minister President of Bavaria, Erwin Huber, Bavarian Minister for Economic Affairs, Infrastructure, Transport and Technology, and Hartmut Mehdorn, CEO of DB AG as well as the CEOs of the industrial companies involved.
DB AG and GSV declare in the agreement that they attach great importance to the implementation of a commercial magnetic levitation railway line in Germany to secure the future of maglev technology and to strengthen Germany’s competitiveness as a business location.
Construction of the Munich Transrapid line offers an opportunity to provide the much needed link from Munich’s central railway station to the city’s airport and to vastly improve the airport’s connection to the rail network.
A major pillar of the implementation agreement is the willingness of DB AG and GSV to implement the scheme as a “target cost project”. DB AG and GSV are set to commence work on specifying the scope of supplies and services and preparing the documents for the tendering process.
Once planning permission has been received, the GSV consortium will offer DB AG a fixed price. The industry is prepared to bear the risk of technical functionality for the scope of supplies and services covered by the agreement.
Since “time is money” the process has to get under way as soon as possible and this will be a decisive step for the industry in terms of meeting cost targets and being able to set a fixed price.
For the industrial consortium this agreement represents more than just the first step on the road. It is a breakthrough in finally achieving what was described in the coalition agreement as a “ground-breaking project”.
September 25, 2007
Looks like the glowing press release is premature. Too bad. This was going to be another money-pit.
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/newstex/AFX-0013-24057486.htm