Editing Hovercraft (section)

====Hovertrains====
{{main|Hovertrain}}

Several attempts have been made to adopt air cushion technology for use in fixed track systems, in order to use the lower frictional forces for delivering high speeds. The most advanced example of this was the [[Aérotrain]], an experimental high speed [[hovertrain]] built and operated in [[France]] between 1965 and 1977. The project was abandoned in 1977 due to lack of funding, the death of its lead engineer and the adoption of the [[TGV]] by the French government as its high-speed ground transport solution.

A test track for a tracked hovercraft system was built at [[Earith]] near [[Cambridge]], [[England]]. It ran southwest from [[Sutton Gault]], sandwiched between the [[Old Bedford River]] and the smaller Counter Drain to the west. Careful examination of the site will still reveal traces of the concrete piers used to support the structure. The actual vehicle, RTV31, is preserved at [[Railworld]] in [[Peterborough]]<ref>{{Cite web| title = Hover Trains| publisher = Railworld| url = http://www.fearnmarketingservices.com/railworld/hover.html| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070910045904/http://www.fearnmarketingservices.com/railworld/hover.html| access-date = 2009-09-12
|archive-date = 2007-09-10}}</ref> and can be seen from trains, just south west of [[Peterborough railway station]]. The vehicle achieved {{convert|104|mph|km/h|abbr=on}} on 7 February 1973<ref>{{Citation| title = *** MISSING TITLE *** MISSING TITLE ***| page = 235| newspaper = [[The Railway Magazine]]| date = May 1973}}</ref> but the project was cancelled a week later. The project was managed by Tracked Hovercraft Ltd., with Denys Bliss as Director in the early 1970s, then axed by the Aerospace Minister, [[Michael Heseltine]]. Records of this project are available from the correspondence and papers of [[Harry Legge-Bourke|Sir Harry Legge-Bourke, MP]] at Leeds University Library.<ref>
{{Cite web|title = Correspondence and papers of Sir Harry Legge-Bourke, MP|publisher = University of Leeds|url = http://www.leeds.ac.uk/library/spcoll/handlists/080MS742_LBourke.pdf|date = 2004-06-02|access-date = 2009-10-14|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090327094923/http://www.leeds.ac.uk/library/spcoll/handlists/080MS742_LBourke.pdf|archive-date = 2009-03-27|url-status = live}}
</ref> Heseltine was accused by [[Airey Neave]] and others of misleading the House of Commons when he stated that the government was still considering giving financial support to the Hovertrain, when the decision to pull the plug had already been taken by the Cabinet.

After the Cambridge project was abandoned due to financial constraints, parts of the project were picked up by the engineering firm [[Alfred McAlpine]], and abandoned in the mid-1980s. The Tracked Hovercraft project and [[Eric Laithwaite|Professor Laithwaite's]] [[Maglev train]] system were contemporaneous, and there was intense competition between the two prospective British systems for funding and credibility.

At the other end of the speed spectrum, the [[U-Bahn Serfaus]] has been in continuous operation since 1985. This is an unusual underground air cushion [[funicular]] [[rapid transit]] system, situated in the Austrian [[ski resort]] of [[Serfaus]]. Only {{convert|1280|m|abbr=on}} long, the line reaches a maximum speed of {{convert|25|mph|abbr=on}}. A [[Narita Airport Terminal 2 Shuttle System|similar system]] also exists in [[Narita International Airport]] near Tokyo, Japan.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, the U.S. Department of Transport's [[Federal Transit Administration|Urban Mass Transit Administration]] (UMTA) funded several hovertrain projects, which were known as Tracked Air Cushion Vehicles or TACVs. They were also known as Aerotrains since one of the builders had a licence from Bertin's Aerotrain company. Three separate projects were funded. Research and development was carried out by [[Rohr, Inc.]], [[Garrett AiResearch]] and [[Grumman]]. UMTA built an extensive test site in [[Pueblo, Colorado]], with different types of tracks for the different technologies used by the prototype contractors. They managed to build prototypes and do a few test runs before the funding was cut.