Location Transport

What countries have been leaders in the development of maglev transportation?

What countries developed the Magnetic levitation train transportation? I need the source of information for this answer. I just can't come across to the answer. HELP!

Public Comments

1. Designed in USA, biggest user is Japan. The following was copied from Maglev2000.com: "The most recent new transport mode is maglev. The goal of using magnets to achieve high speed travel with non-contact magnetically levitated vehicles is almost a century old. In the early 1900's, Bachelet in France and Goddard in the United States discussed the possibility of using magnetically levitated vehicles for high speed transport. However, they did not propose a practical way to achieve this goal. In 1966, Powell and Danby proposed the first practical system for magnetically levitated transport, using superconducting magnets located on moving vehicles to induce currents in normal aluminum loops on a guideway. The moving vehicles are automatically levitated and stabilized, both vertically and laterally, as they move along the guideway. The vehicles are magnetically propelled along the guideway by a small AC current in the guideway. The original Powell-Danby maglev inventions form the basis for the maglev system in Japan , which is currently being demonstrated in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. Powell and Danby have subsequently developed new Maglev inventions that form the basis for their second generation M-2000 System."
2. England, Germany, Japan, Canada in chronological order. The Wikipedia link should help you get started.