THE MORE THINGS CHANGE. "America's hopes of being the world leader in wheelless, high-speed magnetic-levitation trains appear to have been dashed by the Chinese, who took officials on a ride last Tuesday between the city of Shanghai and its airport on the world's first operating maglev railway," goes the story. Some thirty years ago, an observer in Trains made the observation that, had the U.S. defeated the Soviets in World War II with the assistance of the Japanese, only to get into a cold war later, the bullet train, not space satellites, would have provoked a crash government program. Airport shuttles ... maglev, monorail, whatever ... is it practical if not all air travelers are headed to the financial district, or if driving speeds exceed 19 mph airport-to-city-center?