How do maglev trains turn given that they seem to have more than two bogies per car?

All of the images of maglev trains that I've seen seem to have a continuous drive mechanism along the entire length of each car:

I assume this must be articulated some how, or the train wouldn't be able to go around curved track. How does this function? With two bogies on a traditional train car, the bogies only need to be able to rotate in place, with the train car being a linear line from one bogie to the next over the curved track.

But with however many different articulated sections per car here, how are they attached to the train so that it can turn?

2 Answers

There is a minimum radius used for a curve, these are wide and gentle turns and the "slot" in the train is wider than the top of the track to add to the clearance available.

• It's wider by only a few cm though, so when you have a car that's 27 m long, you need a turning radius that's hundreds of meters to accommodate that, and I'm pretty sure they don't actually need that. Jul 10, 2019 at 18:46
• Well, I was a guest in the engineering test maglev at Lathen in Germany and it went from 0 to 400km/hr and back to 0 without the pencils rattling in the pencil jar... But as you seem to know more than I, why ask? And as for birds - there is not much left after hitting a train doing 400km/hr - just takes washing off, leaves a long stain though... Jul 10, 2019 at 18:50

There are guidance magnets and levitation magnets. The guidance magnets are designed to maintain the car alignment, never letting any physical contact. Ther is transverse inclination of the rails too, which helps reducing the curve of the turn.

The off center displacement for a turn radius of 2km at 3 axels of 12m spaced :

$$\sqrt(2000^2 + 12^2)-2000= 0.036 = 3.6cm$$

Dividing this by two, splitting the offset between the three axels we need 1.8cm gap between the guidance magnets and the car vertical magnets. just to get an idea check the detail diagram.