Most people today are aware of environment pollution. The biggest offender is carbon di-oxide released in the air. It is also produced when solid, liquid or gaseous fossil fuels for cooking and generating electric power in almost all conventional thermal power plants are burnt. In Bangladesh, except for the Kaptai hydro-electric power plant, almost all the industries and power plants use conventional fuel, like coal, furnace oil or natural gas. To a very limited extent, people have started using alternative sources like voltaic panel, for houses in the rural areas and as an emergency standby power source in urban areas.
In daily life, both at home and in the industries, conventional fuel is used as the major source of energy and the resultant combustion gases having carbon dioxide is a major cause for environment pollution. The country's industries, closely followed by the nationwide road, rail and water transport sectors, are the major producers of carbon dioxide gases, which in a decade or two may lead to a major crisis of air pollution. Over and above, the country is now all set to have a 2000MW, U236 fuelled nuclear power plant and that too from a Russian organization, which makes rather unsafe nuclear power plants.
Since the country's expanding transport sector (land, water and air) will be a major source of environment pollution in future, it is time that the country looked towards cleaner and more environmentally friendly options for the future. Two interesting options are now being looked into in this respect for future mass transport in the USA. One is mag-lev (magnetic levitation) technology that is now being studied. These are like conventional trains, but the trains are over the rails, and not riding on it based on the principle of magnetic poles repelling each other. Some trains on trial are now running at a speed higher than the famed super high speed Hikari electric trains in Japan. Maglev trains can run at over 600 kph, nearly half the speed of commercial aircrafts now flying all over the world.
Another major concept, now under development that can eliminate both track friction and atmospheric air resistance, is called 'Evacuation Tube Technology) or ETT. For long runs, this concept can make a tremendous breakthrough. If run under the sea, on trans-Atlantic or trans Pacific routes, it could well possibly achieve speeds of over 8000 kph, which means that a traveller can go from Washington to Beijing in around two and a half hours. For this mode of transport, however, people may need to use conventional power sources on land to create and maintain the vacuum along the length of the tube, in which this train will run. However, it is estimated that the conventional power needed to create and maintain this vacuum, will hardly be two per cent of the electric power needed to run a conventional electric train on this track length. Further, it will create far less pollution than now being created by any passenger jet aircraft at the airports and while flying with the same number of passengers between Washington and Beijing.
One can imagine the ETT as luxurious passenger cabin, similar to the large inter-continental passenger jet's interior, riding smoothly on frictionless 'mag-lev' rails in vacuum similar to the low outside pressure aircraft flying at around 40,000 feet above sea level. This is not a science fiction, although it appears to be so. This is based on observations and experimental results carried out on actual small scale research models. In real life, when it starts once operating, it will be a totally safe and foolproof way of travelling but at far higher speeds attained by the fastest trains in the world today. This is somewhat like the Hikary Super Express trains that were introduced in Japan, back in 1960s which is operated by a centrally computerised set-up in Tokyo that controls all the functions of the train. The driver sitting up at the front does nothing. He is there so that passengers feel assured. Hopefully the maglev concept will become a reality, may be in later part of this century.
The writer is an engineer with nearly 50 years of industrial experience.
sam@dhakacom.com
Public transport of tomorrow
S. A. Mansoor | Published: March 23, 2015 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2026 06:01:00
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