Thanks, George and Oliver. I am a EE with 54 years of experience. (Spelled "old' and maybe "senile") I love the idea of maglev but worry about the ohmic loss of the coils. And the cost of track with all that copper in there. In remote locations robbers will come out at night to take the copper. If someone could invent room temperature superconductors (with no street value), we would be in business.
I love dual mode. Nobody wants to walk the last mile home in the rain.
We have that now and call it Hi-Rail. I have some concerns about present Hi-Rail technology:
1. You have to stop the truck and get out to get on a rail, usually at a road crossing. Dangerous.
2. Vehicles must conform to all road vehicle safety standards, even if they don't apply.
3. But still the heavy trucks get great MPG on the rails due to low rolling resistance. Mostly they are used for rail maintenance, not general transport.
4. The Hi-Rail system is like a dog walking on his hind legs. It can be done, but is not pretty. But that can be changed.
And that 2 ton rail maintenance vehicle can tow 2-3 buses on the rail with dozens of passengers.
Here is a cool dual mode Australian system without the efficiency of low rail rolling resistance:
Just my opinions. Yours are equally valid.
Tom