MAGNETIC LEVITATION ATTRACTS ATTENTION

The National Maglev Initiative report contends that America still has time to catch and even surpass research teams in Japan and Germany. Advances in composite technology, microprocessors, and cryogenics have given American scientists the opportunity to "leapfrog" efforts of the Germans and Japanese, who have been developing maglev prototypes for decades. But, as Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.) has pointed out, before corporate America will invest in maglev development, the nation must show a firm commitment to the technology. That commitment did not come, and today Japan and Germany continue to advance, albeit against obstacles, toward a maglev infrastructure.