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Backers of a Maglev Train Hope to Outpace Acela in the Northeast Corridor |
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Posted by GojiMet86 on Thu Oct 23 11:52:09 2014 Backers of a Maglev Train Hope to Outpace Acela in the Northeast CorridorBy RON NIXON and JONATHAN SOBLEOCT. 22, 2014 WASHINGTON — A group of Washington investors with high-level political backing and a $5 billion commitment from the Japanese government is pressing ahead with its vision of a high-speed train that could whisk passengers between New York and Washington in about an hour. The train, which uses a technology called magnetic levitation, or maglev, to float above the track on magnets instead of wheels, would travel at twice the speed of Amtrak’s Acela. It is one of several high-speed rail projects proposed for the heavily trafficked Northeast Corridor, where chronic traffic congestion and flight delays are expected to get worse. At a total estimated cost of $100 billion, critics say a maglev train on the East Coast is little more than a pipe dream. But that has not stopped the investors from pushing the project. On a test track in Japan on Tuesday, a prototype train whooshed a group of visiting Americans through mountains at a top speed of 314 miles per hour — so fast, in fact, that Christie Todd Whitman, the former New Jersey governor and one of the Americans on the ride, said trips on Amtrak between Washington and New York were “embarrassing” by comparison. To Ms. Whitman, the train is a solution to transportation problems back home, where the Acela — the fastest train in the United States — takes 2 hours 45 minutes to travel between New York and Washington. Ms. Whitman is part of a high-powered advisory board for the Northeast Maglev, a private Washington-based company with a goal of building the Washington-to-New York line. The group, which regularly visits Japan to pursue the project and has taken at least three test rides on the train, is trying to convince skeptical American policy makers and investors that the maglev makes financial and political sense. The advisory board includes former Gov. George E. Pataki of New York; Tom Daschle, the former Senate majority leader, who also rode on the train in Japan on Tuesday; former Gov. Edward G. Rendell of Pennsylvania; and Mary Peters, who was a secretary of transportation in the George W. Bush administration. Since 2010, the group has spent $1.4 million lobbying Congress and meeting with state and local officials to build support for the project. To try to win public support, the group has commitments from the Japanese government to invest about $5 billion to pay part of the cost of construction of the first leg, an estimated $10 billion route between Washington and Baltimore. The maglev would enable travelers to go between the two cities in as little as 15 minutes. But large obstacles remain. Given the project’s cost, the maglev company would need support from the federal government, but transportation advocates are skeptical that it will be forthcoming. And the U.S. High Speed Rail Association, which supports more conventional high-speed rail systems, has dismissed the maglev train as too expensive and experimental. In addition, the maglev company would have to secure rights of way to build the specialized tracks, a serious financial undertaking on some of the most expensive real estate in the country. The company plans to build a large part of its route underground, which would add to the cost. But Wayne Rogers, an investor in renewable energy and other projects and chairman and chief executive of Northeast Maglev, said the train makes more sense than current proposals to fix transportation problems in the Northeast, including building more roads and fixing tracks to make Amtrak trains go faster. Adding more highways in the region would increase congestion, he said. As for fixing existing tracks to speed up Amtrak trains, “It’s like putting a Ferrari on the crowded Beltway around Washington: It’s not going to make it go any faster,” Mr. Rogers said. (Amtrak has its own plans to provide high-speed rail on the corridor: a $151 billion proposal to upgrade its existing system to make it easier for trains to travel at 220 m.p.h., which would reduce the trip between New York and Washington to about 90 minutes. Congressional critics and some transportation experts have called the proposal too costly.) Another supporter of the maglev, James P. RePass, chairman of the National Corridors Initiative in Boston, which supports increased federal and private investment in rail projects, said he was previously skeptical of the train project, but has changed his mind. “If you had asked me two years ago, I would have said not a chance,” Mr. RePass said. “But this proposal, which seemed unlikely in the past, is gaining credibility. The reason is that unlike a lot of projects, this one actually has money.” Mr. Daschle, who heads the advisory board for Northeast Maglev, dismisses concerns about the maglev technology. “You can’t be a skeptic on the technological side anymore, because it’s been shown to work,” he said after his ride on the train. Mr. Rogers said the company was moving ahead with its plans: It has filed an application with the Maryland Public Service Commission to transfer the franchise rights of the defunct Washington Baltimore & Annapolis railroad to Northeast Maglev, the first step in getting the project off the ground. The company will need additional approvals from the Surface Transportation Board and the Federal Railroad Administration. Without the transfer of the franchise rights, the company would have to ask the Maryland General Assembly to approve a new franchise agreement, a process that could take years. “We can’t wait around until political and financial conditions are perfect,” Mr. Rogers said. “The transportation infrastructure on the Northeast Corridor is in bad shape. We need to get moving.” Ron Nixon reported from Washington and Jonathan Soble from Yamanashi, Japan. |
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Re: Backers of a Maglev Train Hope to Outpace Acela in the Northeast Corridor |
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Posted by Dan Lawrence on Thu Oct 23 12:57:12 2014, in response to Backers of a Maglev Train Hope to Outpace Acela in the Northeast Corridor, posted by GojiMet86 on Thu Oct 23 11:52:09 2014. AIN'T GOING TO HAPPEN!!!!!!!! |
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Re: Backers of a Maglev Train Hope to Outpace Acela in the Northeast Corridor |
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Posted by Dave on Thu Oct 23 14:30:51 2014, in response to Re: Backers of a Maglev Train Hope to Outpace Acela in the Northeast Corridor, posted by Dan Lawrence on Thu Oct 23 12:57:12 2014. Never say never! |
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Re: Backers of a Maglev Train Hope to Outpace Acela in the Northeast Corridor |
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Posted by Dan Lawrence on Thu Oct 23 15:29:22 2014, in response to Re: Backers of a Maglev Train Hope to Outpace Acela in the Northeast Corridor, posted by Dave on Thu Oct 23 14:30:51 2014. When they do it we will all be watching it from heaven!!!!! |
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Re: Backers of a Maglev Train Hope to Outpace Acela in the Northeast Corridor |
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Posted by Broadway Lion on Thu Oct 23 16:54:18 2014, in response to Re: Backers of a Maglev Train Hope to Outpace Acela in the Northeast Corridor, posted by Dan Lawrence on Thu Oct 23 12:57:12 2014. Did you notice the interest of "Private Investors".That is the only way it could happen vis a vis the US govt. They do not need approval from the US govt, but only a charter from the states that they run through. Aqusition of the ROW will be the ball breaker. ROAR |
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Re: Backers of a Maglev Train Hope to Outpace Acela in the Northeast Corridor |
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Posted by Nilet on Thu Oct 23 19:46:14 2014, in response to Re: Backers of a Maglev Train Hope to Outpace Acela in the Northeast Corridor, posted by Broadway Lion on Thu Oct 23 16:54:18 2014. They need money from the US government since I doubt the states will fund it. |
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Re: Backers of a Maglev Train Hope to Outpace Acela in the Northeast Corridor |
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Posted by Dan Lawrence on Thu Oct 23 20:35:04 2014, in response to Re: Backers of a Maglev Train Hope to Outpace Acela in the Northeast Corridor, posted by Nilet on Thu Oct 23 19:46:14 2014. You got it!!!! As I mentioned before we will all be watching from Heaven!!! |
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Re: Backers of a Maglev Train Hope to Outpace Acela in the Northeast Corridor |
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Posted by WillD on Thu Oct 23 23:05:31 2014, in response to Re: Backers of a Maglev Train Hope to Outpace Acela in the Northeast Corridor, posted by Broadway Lion on Thu Oct 23 16:54:18 2014. The private investors can be as interested as they want, unless they have a spare hundred billion dollars lying around their interest means nothing.Or was the unnecessary use of quotes to denote irony? |
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