Magplane Technology, Inc. ("MTI"), is the developer of the Magplane system. The company was founded by a group of MIT engineers who developed the basic Magplane concept. MTI organized and led the efforts of over 30 engineers and scientists from the United States Army Corps of Engineers and 10 leading engineering firms, including Raytheon and MIT Lincoln Laboratory, to further develop the technology under the National Maglev Initiative of the United States Department of Transportation. The company adapted several essential features of the Magplane technology to electromagnetic pipeline transport, and completed a US$ 2 million demonstration project for the IMC Global Corporation in November 2000. The Company has focused in the last several years on developing projects for several cities in China. The Company will lead the engineering support team in the United States for Magplane China Company supported by a number of major subcontractors described below. Magplane was initially developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) together with industrial partners. Magplane Technology, Inc. spun off in the 1990s to develop commercial systems. Prior to spin off from MIT, 60,000 hours of Faculty, staff and graduate student research and development work was done on the basic Magplane concept. During this period a 1/25 scale working model was tested on a 100 meter long guideway to demonstrate the levitation and propulsion properties of the guideway and on-board magnets. After spin-off in 1992, a 5.6 M$ design concept development was sponsored by the Federal Railway Administration and a 1/5 scale 2 M$ linear motor propulsion system was built as part of a 300 meter-long ore-transport system for one of the major phosphate mining companies.
