As brief as it is fascinating, here is the Aérotrain story. The Aérotrain was a hovertrain developed in France from 1965 to 1977. The lead engineer was Jean Bertin. The goal of the Aérotrain was similar to that of the magnetic levitation train: to suspend the train above the tracks so the only resistance is air resistance. Consequently, the Aérotrain could travel at very high speeds without the technical complexity and expensive tracks of magnetic levitation. The Aerotrain was mothballed in 1975, and the French project was abandoned in 1977 due to lack of funding, the death of Jean Bertin, and the adoption of TGV by the French government as its high-speed ground-transport solution. The remaining of the tracks are still visible in France.
