A device for driving a magnetic levitation train has at least one controllable power supply unit that feeds at least one multi-phase power supply line, and a long stator with stator windings that extend in switching sections of the long stator. Each switching section can be connected to at least one of the power supply lines via an assigned section feed switch and each stator winding has at least one assigned current sensor for detecting a current and at least one assigned evaluation unit connected to the sensor. In order to permit a simple, precise overcurrent protection, each current sensor is configured to detect the current in one phase of each assigned stator winding and the evaluation unit is configured to deactivate the section feed switch, if the current detected in each case exceeds a previously defined threshold value.