A Comparative Study of Maglev and High Speed Wheel-rail in the Perspective of Low-carbon Economy 1

Abstract

Economic results of low-carbon are received from less consumption of natural resources and less environmental pollution. On the research of contrastive analysis, this paper discusses the environmental impact of high-speed maglev and high-speed wheel-rail in land use, noise pollution, energy consumption, ecological effect, electromagnetic radiation and other aspects. From the point of view of low-carbon economy, high-speed maglev causes less resource consumption, less impact on the ecological environment and lower maintenance costs, compared with high speed rail wheel. Further, the noise pollution and electromagnetic pollution on human health caused by maglev are relatively small. Maglev runs very quietly in low speed, Moreover, in high speed, maglev can run along the existing transportation corridor without costing too much land resources, and also ease the burden on the environment.