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SIGMA XI - NJIT CHAPTER |
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STUDENT CHAPTERS OF THE INSTITUTE OF TRANSPORTATION ENGINEERS AND THE SOCIETY OF INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS
Maglev Technology and Its Potential Operating Locations
Dr. Rongfang (Rachel) Liu, AICP, P.E.
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Certified Project Manager, PB Transit and Rail Systems, Inc.
ABSTRACT
Maglev is an advanced transport technology in which magnetic forces lift, propel, and guide a vehicle over a specially deigned guide way. Utilizing state-of-the-art electric power and control systems, this technology eliminates the need for wheels and many other mechanical parts, thereby minimizing resistance and permitting excellent acceleration, with cruising speeds on the order of 300 mph or more. This high performance would enable Maglev to provide airline-competitive trip times among different metropolitan or remote areas. This presentation will provide a brief review of the technology development and its wide appeals and potential appli-cations around the world. It will highlight the technology, the foreseeable environmental impact of the Maglev sys-tems, and its anticipated social-economical effect on the applicable locations. The featured operation plans will dem-onstrate how the advanced technology can be applied to our daily living and benefit the society via transportation efficiency and other quality of life improvements.
BIOGRAPHY Dr. Liu of NJIT's Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering has been working at PB Transit and Rail Systems, Inc. as a Project Manager. She received her Ph.D. in Civil Engineer-ing from University of South Florida. Dr. Liu has extensive experience in the area of intermodal transportation planning and en-gineering, environmental impact and major investment studies (EIS and MIS), and travel demand forecasting and simulation modeling. She is probably best known for her development of transfer paradigm defining intermodal transfer penalties in the context of mode choice models. Dr. Liu has managed/conducted long-range transportation plans for different federal, state, and local government agencies and developed traffic engineering designs for various public and private sector clients. She has gained this broad-based experience through her various positions with consulting firms, research institutes, and government agencies as well as her extensive involvement with Transportation Research Board committees and modeling development task forces.
For information, contact either:
Ms. Brenda Walker at (973)596-3513 or at brenda.e.walker@njit.edu, or
Dr. Steven Chien at i.jy.chien@njit.edu or Dr. Andrew U. Meyer at meyer@njit.eduInformation and directions to NJIT are also available on the Web at http://www.njit.edu/University/Directions.html