Projects archive
Maglev history is also a history of lines that closed early or were never built. Many of these projects still shape today's debates, so here they are in one place.
Built, opened, and closed again
- 1984
Birmingham Airport Maglev, United Kingdom
The world's first commercial maglev: a 600 m low-speed shuttle between Birmingham Airport and Birmingham International station, running at up to 42 km/h. It operated for almost eleven years and closed in 1995 because of reliability problems and the cost of replacing worn parts. It was replaced by a cable-drawn shuttle.
- 1989
M-Bahn, Berlin, Germany
A 1.6 km elevated maglev with three stations in West Berlin, built to fill a gap in the transport network caused by the Berlin Wall. Free trial service started in August 1989 and regular service in July 1991. After reunification it stood in the way of rebuilding the U2 underground line and was dismantled in September 1991.
- 2016
Incheon Airport Maglev, South Korea
Opened in 2016, stopped in 2023 and restarted in 2025 with a very limited timetable. See ECOBEE and Incheon.
Planned, approved, and stopped
- 2000
Berlin to Hamburg Transrapid, Germany
The first planned commercial Transrapid line in Germany was abandoned in 2000 after revised ridership and cost forecasts.
- 2007
UK Ultraspeed, United Kingdom
A proposed Transrapid network linking London, the Midlands, the North and Scotland, with a projected cost of 29 billion pounds. It was never taken up by the government.
- 2008
Munich Airport Transrapid, Germany
A 37 km link between Munich main station and the airport, approved in September 2007. On 27 March 2008, the federal and Bavarian governments stopped it after the cost estimate rose from 1.85 to 3.4 billion euros. The trip to the airport would have taken about 10 minutes instead of 40.
- 2010
Shanghai to Hangzhou maglev, China
An extension of the Shanghai Transrapid toward Hangzhou was planned for years. It was suspended, and the conventional Shanghai to Hangzhou high-speed railway opened in 2010 instead.
- 2025
Baltimore to Washington SCMaglev, USA
Planned as the first stage of a one-hour New York to Washington line using Japan's SCMaglev. The Federal Railroad Administration paused the review in 2021 and rescinded it on 31 July 2025, citing unresolvable impacts on federal agencies and property, including the National Security Agency. More than 26 million dollars in grants were cancelled. The FRA stressed that the decision does not rule out SCMaglev in the US in the future.
The Emsland test facility
From 1984 to 2011, the Transrapid was tested on a 31.5 km circuit in Emsland, northwestern Germany. The site is due to be dismantled by 2034. Its story is told on our page about the Transrapid Test Facility Emsland.
Sources
- Maglev, history section
- First maglev train to enter public service
- M-Bahn
- UK Ultraspeed
- Germany scraps maglev airport link
- Munich's Transrapid maglev project axed
- Shanghai to Hangzhou high-speed railway
- Baltimore to Washington SCMaglev project
- Northeast maglev high-speed train canceled
- Germany's only maglev test track to be dismantled by 2034