A ground effect train is an alternative to a magnetic levitation (maglev) train. In both cases the object is to prevent the vehicle from making contact with the ground. Whereas a maglev train accomplishes this through the use of magnetism, a ground effect train uses an air cushion; either in the manner of a hovercraft (as in hovertrains) or using the "wing In ground effect" design.
The advantages of a ground effect train over a maglev are lower cost due to simpler construction. Disadvantages include either constant input of energy to keep the train hovering (in the case of hovercraft-like vehicles) or the necessity to keep the vehicle moving for it to remain off the ground (in the case of Wing In Ground effect vehicles). Furthermore, these vehicles may be very drastically affected by wind, air turbulence, and weather. Whereas the magnetic levitation train can be built to operate in a vacuum to minimise air resistance, the ground effect train must operate in an atmosphere in order for the air cushion to exist.
Famous quotes containing the words ground, effect and/or train:
“To people off alone, as we were, there is something stirring about finding evidences of human labour and care in the soil of an empty country. It comes to you as a sort of message, makes you feel differently about the ground you walk over every day.”
—Willa Cather (1873–1947)
“I don’t know what effect these men will have upon the enemy, but, by God, they terrify me.”
—Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke Wellington (1769–1852)
“Constant revolutionizing of production ... distinguish the bourgeois epoch from all earlier ones. All fixed, fast-frozen relations, with their train of ancient and venerable prejudices are swept away, all new-formed ones become antiquated before they can ossify. All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses, his real conditions of life, and his relations with his kind.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)