A transportation system wherein a vehicle is magnetically levitated, guided and propelled along a guideway. The vehicle has a number of long thin superconducting coils which, when energized, interact with I-strips in the guideway to effect levitation. Propulsion is accomplished by interaction between further superconducting coils and the field of a linear synchronous motor. In one form, the I-strips are made cryogenic and/or superconducting in and near stations to provide levitation even at very slow speeds and when the vehicle is stationary.