Magnetic levitation railway and method for its operation

A magnetic levitation railway comprising:

• a track path;
• at least one magnetic levitation vehicle movable along a track path and having a plurality of supporting magnets as well as supporting runners allocated to the supporting magnets, said magnetic levitation vehicle being maintained in a levitated status during the travel by means of the supporting magnets and being settled with the supporting runners on the track path at destination stopping points by switching-off the supporting magnets;
• a propellant and braking system for the magnetic levitation vehicle;
• and
• an additional brake for gradual braking of the magnetic levitation vehicle in the event of a disturbance before a destination stopping point is reached, wherein the additional brake exclusively employs the supporting runners as active braking elements and is provided with means to switch-off selected supporting magnets in order to settle down the vehicle onto the track path in the event of a disturbance before the destination stopping point is reached by means of the supporting runners allocated to the switched-off supporting magnets, said additional brake comprising a computer which is equipped to determine a number of supporting runners, onto which the magnetic levitation vehicle is to be settled, and points of time at which the magnetic levitation vehicle is to be settled on the number of supporting runners, depending on a velocity of the magnetic levitation vehicle and a distance of the magnetic levitation vehicle to the destination stopping point.

A method for operation of a magnetic levitation railway, the method comprising:

• providing a magnetic levitation railway with a track path a magnetic levitation vehicle movable along a track path with a plurality of supporting magnets as well as supporting runners allocated to the supporting magnets, a propellant and braking system for the magnetic levitation vehicle and an additional brake for gradual braking of the magnetic levitation vehicle in the event of a disturbance before a destination stopping point is reached, wherein the additional brake exclusively employs the supporting runners as active braking elements and is provided with means to switch-off selected supporting magnets;
• maintaining the magnetic levitation vehicle, by means of the supporting magnets, in a levitated status during travel of the magnetic levitation vehicle along a track path;
• and
• settling the magnetic levitation vehicle on the track path by means of the supporting runners at destination stopping points by switching-off the supporting magnets and gradually slowing the magnetic levitation vehicle down before the magnetic levitation vehicle reaches a destination stopping point and switching-off at least one of the supporting magnets before the destination stopping point is reached and by settling the magnetic levitation vehicle by means of the supporting runner allocated to the at least one supporting magnet onto the track path, and brought to a standstill at the destination stopping point by exploiting frictional forces thus generated, wherein the frictional forces required to reach the destination stopping point are generated by selecting a number of supporting runners onto which the magnetic levitation vehicle is settled and by selecting points of time at which the magnetic levitation vehicle is to settle onto the number of supporting runners.