Professor Eric Braithwaite of Imperial College, London was the inventor of linear acceleration (motors) during the 60's & 70's, and although Britain was the first country to introduce a MAGLEV service during the 80's, the idea of MAGLEV (magnetic levitation) never got the recognition or the research money it deserved.
Pedantic, but it doesn't run on a cushion of air, it is simply contactless to the track and has no friction. As it is incompatible with what we have already, and there is no room for anything else as well, highly unlikely.
It should have been professor Laithwaite I believe. You may be right Postdog but as the working model will not appear until about 2020 we have time to get things right and choose the best option for the future. Using your analogy we would still be reliant on steam trains.