The government began funding two speed train projects. At the time, the British rail was advancing and presented stiff competition. More tests were done and in 1973, the first test train on a one-mile track was able to achieve a speed of 104 mph. In 1970, scholars found that in an effort to improve speeds, safety issues arose. This was made possible by the smoothness of rails which presented minimum resistance. It was designed to be a high speed train which could move up to speeds of 250 mph. It was a combination of a hovercraft and a linear induction motor. The tracked hovercraft was a high speed train which was being experimented in the United Kingdom in 1960. The craft made 107 flights and in 1987, the only remaining craft was retired to the Russian Federation Central Air Force Museum. After Bartini’s death in 1974, the project slowed and later stalled. Inflatable pontoons were installed in 1974 to improve buoyancy. Bartini Beriev VVA-14 took its first flight in 1972, from a normal runway. The wing span was 98 ft and it had a height of 22 ft. The aircraft had a crew of three people, had a maximum speed of 472 mph, and length of 85 ft. Some of its other capabilities were being able to travel in high attitudes as well as just above the sea level efficiently. It was developed to be able to take off from water and fly over long distances at high speeds. Translated into English, it means vertical take-off amphibious aircraft. The etymology comes from the name of the developer while VVA is initials for the Russian term Vertikal’no-Vzletayushaya Amphibia.

It was developed to neutralize US Navy Polaris Missile submarines. This aircraft was designed by Robert Bartini in the 1970s in the Soviet Union. Most environmentalists have supported the project and have said it is an environmentally friendly and green project. The SkyTran Personal Rapid Transit is still undergoing tests. In 2014, Israel Aerospace industries were contacted to build a 1,500 feet elevated loop test track in central Israel. SkyTran is patented in California but several other countries have shown interest in it. The only moving parts of the vehicle are the air conditioning fans, doors, parking tires and the vehicle itself making maintenance cost to be very low. The fact that a magnetic field was used instead of wheels reduces wear and tear by a very huge margin and makes lane switching easier. This system is regarded as a breakthrough in transport as it is economical on fuel and the cost of maintenance could be low. Besides magnetic fields, the vehicles were not to have any support. This system was to be a lightweight two-passenger vehicle suspended from an elevated magnetic suspension. In 1990, Douglas Malewicki, an American aerospace engineer, engaged in an ambitious project of developing a personal rapid transit. There are modern airships currently being manufactured in Japan for tourism purposes around Tokyo. This coupled by a number of high profile accidents led to their decline. After World War II, jet planes were modernized causing airships to become outdated compared to jets. However, the airships were seen as very vulnerable and their usage was abandoned in 1917. This was also seen in World War I when French, Germans, and Italians made excessive use of the vessel in battle.

During the Italo-Turkish war, an airship was used by the military for the first time to drop an aerial bomb. Zeppelin LZ2 followed suit in 1906 which was more improved. The first successful airship, Zeppelin LZ1 made its debut flight in July 1900. This caused increased interest in the system which led to improvements being done. William Bland sent designs for the airship to the “Great Exhibition” in London. Although the idea of an airship came from Francesco Lana de Terzi in 1670, the first recorded flight was in 1784 by Jean-Pierre Blanchard.

Passenger airshipsĪn airship is a type of aerostat which can fly though the air using its own power. In this article, 6 failed transportation systems will be discussed. Some systems have proved to be very successful whereas others were set to fail from the beginning. In recent centuries, the world has seen human and animal powered transportation replaced with high speed trains and planes. The ways in which we transport ourselves has greatly evolved over the years. The English dictionary defines transport as 'a system of conveying people or goods from one place to another by the use of means such as vehicles, aircrafts, or ships'.

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