Chapter 560 — The Proposal
Blade of Dawn · Page 2 of 4
To regulate the hover height while the train was running, she had also installed a number of additional repulsion units beneath the undercarriage. These could be controlled individually to balance the load of each carriage; and when the overall load was too heavy and the undercarriage risked sinking, or when the entire track system suffered an accident and most of the repulsion points failed at once, the train could rely on its own repulsion units to maintain its hover, or at least to return fairly smoothly to the track.
"...Quite... beyond what I expected..."
Gao Yang could not help murmuring in admiration.
The hovering-train proposal reminded him of the "maglev" technology he had known in his previous life, yet the two were fundamentally very different. At the same time, the driving force in Rebecca's new design reminded him of the magic-crystal railgun—a railgun propelled its projectiles forward with the same kind of angled repulsion runes. The difference was that in Rebecca's proposal, the source of propulsion was no longer the "rail," but the repulsion units built into the projectile—the carriage—itself...
Seeing the Xuanyao Sect's patriarch wear a satisfied expression, Rebecca could not help but grow smug. "Because the thrust needed for hovering comes from the track, adding more carriages also yields more thrust. So long as the output limit per unit length of track isn't exceeded, the train can keep floating stably even with more carriages. And since a great many repulsion points work simultaneously, even if some of them suddenly fail, the train will at most lose a little height or speed rather than scrape the track and be destroyed."
She paused, then went on: "Based on the current magic-net output and the interference threshold of the repulsion units, I've divided the track into 'sections,' each about one point three two kilometers long. Within each section there is a complete repulsion array, and the power supply of each section is independent, so damage to one won't affect the others. Also, roughly thirty percent of the repulsion units in each section are 'safety margin'...
"The power for the train's operation is split in two: one part is in the track zone, used to keep the carriages hovering; the other is aboard the train, used to sustain forward motion. Because the power is divided and a more efficient propulsion scheme is used, and the carriages themselves have been lightened, the load capacity is actually much higher than in the earliest design..."
Gao Yi nodded slightly, listening carefully to each of Rebecca's explanations, then offered a reminder: "A carriage in a hovering state won't be easy to control."
"Of course—a hovering carriage has to be handled with some care when turning or climbing," Rebecca nodded; clearly she had already considered this. "Mr. Camille is often floating about, and it was he who reminded me. A hovering carriage must take turns very gently to prevent inertia from causing it to scrape the track or strike a relay post. So the route can't have so many sharp curves, and the same goes for climbs—to keep the undercarriage from touching the track, the gradient must be limited. Also, the train has to slow down when turning or crossing a slope, and correspondingly the density of relay posts along slopes and curves must be increased to provide enough thrust at low speeds."
For a while Gao Cen could think of no further questions, so he lowered his head and continued to examine the remarkable proposal in careful detail.
A magic-energy train hovering in midair... without question, it was bold.
But bold did not necessarily mean unsafe. So long as the technical means kept pace, a bold proposal could still be highly practical—especially in a world where magical power existed.