Talk:M-Bahn

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My information for the system using 85% magnetic levitation is sourced from the page to which the external link leads. Below is a link to a Google translatiuon of that page.

SimonSpsmiler 14:37, 18 September 2006 (UTC)

http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=de&u=http://www.berliner-verkehrsseiten.de/m-bahn/&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=2&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dm%2Bbahn%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DG

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Time in Service

The infobox suggests that this was only running for 12 days, yet the article doesn't mention anything about this (extraordinary) fact. Are the dates correct? Gavinatkinson (talk) 20:54, 21 December 2009 (UTC)

The German version of the article states that from 28. August 1989 on, the service was running with passengers - although formally still being in "test mode". On 18. July 1991 the M-Bahn apparently finally got formal approval to run its service from authorities, but I guess that date is not too important for the actual service as people were already able to use the M-Bahn before. UG at enwiki (talk) 11:01, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Challenge: M-Bahn being described as a „Maglev“

Taking into account the likelihood this article hasn't had editorial attention in a very long time, I want to challenge the articles description of M-Bahn as a „Maglev“. In the German language article, the following description is given:

Die kastenförmigen Doppelkabinen verfügten weder über Motoren noch Bremssysteme: Starke Dauermagnete unter der Kabine trugen 85 % des Fahrzeuggewichts.

Which, roughly translated, means „...The permanently formed double-cars also employed the [Long-stator linear] motor as the braking system: Strong permanent magnets under the cars bore 85% of the vehicles [unladen] weight.“

Although this means the magnets bore some of the vehicle weight, the vehicles still rested and rolled along on wheels at all times. The only way in which those magnets would actually lift the vehicle (And in such case; Lock it directly to the long-stator motor above it) would be in a situation where gravity was only 84% of normal or less. On top of that is load weight (Passengers, baggage) which is impossible to balance out using anything other than reactive sensing and constantly adjusting electromagnets. (See: Transrapid)

I also want to note that though the accident at Kemperplatz - Caused by a train arriving into the station too quickly because a safety system had been disabled - Did cause a lot of damage including the train breaking through the glass wall at the end of the station and a section of track dropping by about 1,5m, the cars did not (to my awareness) fall off the end of the guideway or collide with the ground. My understanding is this was an un-manned test train (Probefahrt) and so nobody was on board, and I believe the incident caused no injuries.

Finally; According to video [1] below, the fire at U-Gleisdreieck was in the evening of the 18th April 1987, not in May as the article suggests (I'll edit that shortly)¹. Both of the first trains (01 and 02) were completely written-off in the fire and had to be replaced by trains 03 and 04. This also helps to date footage/photos from before and after mid 1987.

(¹ - Correction: I misread the intended service start date as that of the fire. No edit made.)

My sources for most of the above:

1. - Brief history of the Berliner M-Bahn, 2021 (Assembled entirely from historical footage)
2. - M-Bahn industry promotional video, 1985.

(Both in German. YouTube can provide auto-translated subtitles in English and other languages of preference.)

And a final note to myself: For the Love of Odin, try to recover my long-inaccessible Wikipedia account!

81.103.19.246 (talk) 18:50, 6 May 2025 (UTC)

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81.103.19.246: The first sentence in the WP:LEAD currently reads "The M-Bahn or Magnetbahn was an elevated Maglev train line …".
Can you help describe what the exact change(s) being requested are? —Sladen (talk) 19:59, 6 May 2025 (UTC)