Transportation Bill Sets Aside $45 Million For MagLev Train

tbischel tips us to news that the MagLev train project which would run from Las Vegas to Disneyland has received approval for $45 million in funding. The project has been in the planning stages for quite some time, and it was delayed further by a drafting error in a 2005 highway bill. "Derided by critics as pie in the sky, the train would use magnetic levitation technology to carry passengers from Disneyland to Las Vegas in well under two hours, traveling at speeds of up to 300 mph. It would be the first MagLev system in the U.S. The money is the largest cash infusion in the project's nearly 20-year history. It will pay for environmental studies for the first leg of the project."

Huge construction project.. recession..

[onion2k]

A huge construction project that would take place in during a recession/depression.. is this going to be this generation's Hoover Dam?

Well, apart from the fact a dam is actually useful, and a train between two holiday resorts during a time when people have no money to spend on holidays is all kinds of pointless.

Maybe they should talk to the germans first

[ThatbookwritingWheel]

The transrapid project has had a similar length timeframe, and the only feasible implementation (munich to munich airport) was finally shot down a couple of weeks ago. Costs where double of what was originally projected. While maglev is a really cool technology, it is not as brilliant in real life due to the high costs and the competition from airtravel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transrapid [wikipedia.org]

Re:Huge construction project.. recession..

[apodyopsis]

..a train between two holiday resorts during a time when people have no money to spend on holidays is all kinds of pointless.

Not at all, if it proves the technology. Ensures people are happy to use it - and paves the may for a cheap, fast, and effective mass transit to try and tempt people away from cars.

I bet the big automotive/oil firms are watching this like a hawk.

After all, who wants to drive between the cities when you can do it in a fraction of the time, cost, and in air conditioned comfort whilst reading papers, sipping tea, and chomping biscuits.

Many times in the UK I have wished we could reverse Beechings Axe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beeching_Axe [wikipedia.org]

Even more with the massive fuel price increase we have had here in the UK. The long term solution is to change demographics (get people living closer to work) and to ensure a cheap and viable mass transit alternative.

How about this instead?

[Anonymous Coward]

California High-Speed Rail
http://www.cahighspeedrail.ca.gov/

About time the United States became like the other industrialized countries, don't you think?

Re:Critics

[hyperz69]

I lived in Vegas 7 years. They NEED This. Even the expansion to 6 lanes between the cities was not enough. We are talking 400KM+ Of cars taillight to tailpipe on any given weekend! It's even a crazier route then VA to Washington DC.

Re:Huge construction project.. recession..

[amRadioHed]

My recent experience with Amtrak (San Diego to Los Angeles) was first rate. The only problem is that the available routes are extremely limited, no train available from LA to SF for instance.

Re:Infrastructure problems in the East prohibit

[weave]

Yes and no. Yes, there are no more at-grade crossings except maybe near Boston and I think those have been eliminated. But there were some at-grade crossings that I have personal experience with. In Delaware crossing Red Mill Road and Harmony Road until the late 70s. The amount of signaling at those crossings was insane too since those trains went through there around 100+ MPH.

http://preview.tinyurl.com/6qwspf [tinyurl.com] Link to google map of one of the former crossings, since replaced with overpass a few hundred feet to the west.

Re:Infrastructure problems in the East prohibit

[ChrisMaple]

Part of the reason that train speeds are severely limited is that they are built on the now-idiotic standard of a vehicle height exceeding 12 feet. Even though most of the mass is relatively low, the center of gravity could probably be cut by a factor of 3 if attention were paid to it. Trains should be 3 feet high and passengers loaded like peas in a pod. Then speeds would be limited by track roughness and other such factors, not tipping over because of centrifugal force.

Lots of trains in the USA

[tjstork]

Trains in the US & A? Can this really be true?

Actually, the bulk of continental freight shipped in the USA is by rail. Have a look at the rolling stock of the likes of Union Pacific, Norfolk Suffolk or CSX, and you'll see that there's been quite a bit going on.

For example, cars are just getting into gas electric hybrids, but the railroads have been running diesel electric hybrids now for decades. The locomotives are now into a new generation of hybrid technology.

The fuel efficiency of these rail lines is staggering. One or two locomotives pull trains that can be two miles long!

But you are preaching to the choir here. I love trains.

Re:Trains, US?

[larkost]

I recently took the train from Philadelphia to San Francisco, and the trip was really nice. It took 3 1/2 days, but was in the same price range as flight tickets (it really depends on when you buy them). The ride was pleasent, and people aboard the train were very willing to talk (unlike on a flight). And the views were absolutely gorgeous.

If you have the time, I would recomend the trip.

Oh.. and if you are willing to sit in a chair the whole way you can get the trip for something like $100. I am not going to recommend that, but it is possible.

Re:Trains, US?

[Urza9814]

Hmm. I take the train all the time. I suppose it may not be great for cross-country travelling, but you can go the entire way across PA in 5 hours for about $70. Business class, snack car...free drinks, power outlets, and you can actually use your cell phone. lol. Not to mention it's a _lot_ nicer. The business class on a plane are ancient seats, sometimes with holes where the padding is falling out, crammed together. It's horrible. In the space that a plane seats 30+ people, the train puts 15.

Re:Trains, US?

[CastrTroy]

I was going to say the same thing. Trains can be good for shorter trips. You can get from downtown(ish) Ottawa, to downtown (real downtown) Toronto in 5 hours. The flight is only 45 minutes, but once you count check-in, security, boarding, taken-off, and travelling from the airport to downtown, you're looking at about the same amount of time anyway. Both are roughly the same price, but the train seats are a lot more comfortable, and the whole experience is much more pleasant.

Re: "making it actually useful"

[conureman]

The oil companies are doing better than J.D. Rockefeller's wildest dreams, and we damn sure won't get a working public transit system until the Auto Industry DOES go belly up. At that time, private cars should be outlawed for most of us, in order to make sure that we pay for the system when we DO install it.
It's like the Cold War. We spent many billions of dollars on unusable weapons systems,to keep the bucks flowing between wars, now, when we've managed to get someone to actually attack us, we get to borrow our grand-children's savings so we can buy some real weapons that someone has to go use on someone else. Have you ever noticed how we have to issue bonds whenever our Fearless Leaders find some project actually needed by the public? Just another finger in the pie. Why can't we pay cash, just once?