Maglev Lines

Ground travel is, bar none, the most popular form of travel on Terra Nova. Railways crisscross the countryside providing cheap and efficient transportation between city-states. Personal ground vehicles, although uncommon in cities, are everyday possessions in rural districts. Hovercraft are popular in swamp and desert regions, while wheeled vehicles are the norm on the planet’s vast grassy plains.

Walkers are often used in areas with rocky or treacherous ground. Water travel is generally limited to Lake Esperance and Lake Darwin. Terranovan water craft are blocky and of a relatively low technical sophistication. The reason for the crude nature of Terranovan ships is that there is little demand for water vessels and thus, little impetus to improve them. Air travel is infrequent, even in the polar regions, and quite rare in the Badlands. There are few major airports and only four commercial airlines. Most aircraft belong to governments, military forces or private corporations. The most frequent users of aircraft are the Terranovan armed forces, who use aircraft in air superiority, ground support, reconnaissance and troop transport roles. Both air and water travel are delegated to such edge cases due to Terra Nova's particular climate and water conditions.

As such, the most popular and effective form of global travel is along the three massive magnetic levitation (maglev) lines that cross the Badlands. Colonial authorities built these in the sixth century and they are now operated by Terranovan TransRail (TNTR), an international conglomerate with shareholders on both sides of the globe. TNTR tries to remain out of politics, wielding power because many major companies rely on it for transport. TNTR security forces are the only law aboard most maglev trains.