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Maryland to use Fed grant for maglev prep work
Total ‘looniness’. $12,000,000,000 to go from one ghetto to another?
Talk about throwin’ money down a rat hole…!!! YOW!!!
I would be curious to ride it once. I don’t know if I will connect with it like I have the wheel-on-rail trains, but, I would like to have the experience.
At least this high speed train will be connecting 2 very large population centers.
I do not feel that Mr. Hays’s comment is either respectful or on-topic.
$12,000,000,000 has to come from taxes, What if the taxes were cut that much at both ends of this line, their might be a much better economy (no ghetto) for everyone there. Taxes can only come out of someone’s profit of building something or creating betterment out of working natural resources. I don’t think there is that much profit being earned. Only pumping oil makes that kind of betterment.
Maglev vehicles can travel at over 300 mph so they are best utilized on long runs, such as Denver - Kansas City. They are not railroad trains. They are more like an airplane with no wings.
Maglev? When will Trains start covering the Monorails at Disney and Vegas?
I have to agree that this makes absolutely no sense, pursue a $12 billion to connect Baltimore and DC when the Northeast Corridor itself needs at least a new tunnel in Baltimore, several major bridge replacements between Baltimore and NY City as well as a new Hudson River Tunnel.
If it were to be nothing but a fast way between Balto & DC, period, then the expense would be hard to justify. However, as a the first intercity-scale maglev project in the US, it could be a valuable demonstration project and test bed for further development. Could $12 billion be better spent elsewhere? Maybe, but this project isn’t necessarily the complete waste that earlier posters would have us believe.
Please remember that the $12B per the article is split three ways so that taxpayers would be held for $4B not the whole boat. Also I think that a lot of Japanese maglev is elevated. Agreed that this is initially more expensive per mile than ground level BUT elevating it substantially (50 foot clearance) above ground level would eliminate ground crossings and trespassers. Another thought is that interstate median strips or in the case of Maryland maybe MD295, could be used for piers and obviate the need for land purchases. I would like to hear what the acceleration/deceleration specifications are in “g” forces to be able to accurately estimate time per station stop. The “g” forces must consider passenger comfort during these periods.
At least Gerhardt Kraske read the article, however, I believe his 3 way split is a little off, it would more likely be(at the max $12B cost) a split like this, $5B from the Japanese govt, $5B U.S. govt.(taxes) and $1B from Maryland…that’s more typical of how these things are funded when Federal money is involved.
How many Amtrak routes need to be established as this non-sense continues?
Gerald, appreciate your reply, but I thought the article included a “private company” .
WILLIAM D HAYS I spent a weekend in Baltimore and it struck me as a nice city, I stayed at the BWI Marriott and took the light rail downtown to Camden Yards. I waled all around downtown and it seemed pretty decent, the Inner Harbor was of course very touristy and busy despite the rain.
I actually walked past the Maglev Office on South Gay Street, its in a old firehouse. Its also at the center of what seemed to be a pretty pathetic red light district, down the street from the police headquarters.
As for the concept, its a waste of money. The best place for the Japanese to sell their maglev is in Texas where there is no intercity corridor services, and little hope of one coming. We need to focus on renewing, upgrading, and expanding the existing NEC… we don’t need this Maglev plan which given most of it would be a subway (intriguing idea nether the less) would rival or exceed Amtrak’s financial $150B HSR plan.
Heck, why not build the tunnels and run conventional high speed trains thru them? Be almost as fast! From what I have read of this project must of it would be underground, just as the planned linear maglev line in Japan.
What is needed is speeding $30 to 40B over a decade to fix what is old, what is broken, and what needs to be expand to bring faster trains at higher frequencies. This maglev is a big distraction and provides an accuse to do nothing.
In Japan there are many critics of their maglev plans, in a country with a falling population and given that a second Shinkansen link between Tokyo and Osaka is about to become reality via a route over the mountains and along the Sea of Japan… why is the Chou Maglev needed?
After speeding billions and decades on maglev, the Japanese are desperate to prove it was ultimately a waste of time and money on a fascinating but unneeded technology. The should focus on selling us intercity DMUs like the commuter ones by Nippon Sharyo in use in Toronto and the Bay Area.
I’m with those who would rather see this kind of money go towards improving NEC infrastructure and travel times, but I agree it could be a test bed demonstration project. Maglevs can be used well for either short or long runs. There is a city center-to-airport maglev operation somewhere in Asia that reaches high speeds on its short run without discomfort to passengers. To the Newswire moderators: I strongly support free speech here and in general, but not when it becomes offensive.
MICHAEL J STOKES that’s the Shanghai Airport Maglev, the only Transrapid system the German’s sold. It was suppose to be part of a longer intercity line, but that idea got axed in favor of conventional high-speed rail that could go very fast on new lines but make use of existing infrastructure, including previously built high-speed stations and lines.
It seems that in Germany the Transrapid test track has been torn down and the factory too! So much for maglev.
One item not addressed is infrastructure, where will the electrical power come from to support his Maglev project? We have already heard the backlash over EVs being worse due to the overall generation of electrical power. How would Maglev run without something at the end of the power cord? Solar, Wind, Energizer Bunny? Just putting the other part of the technology on the table for discussion.
The Shanghai Maglev is apparently not very popular with the locals, its more convenient and faster to take the Shanghai Metro rapid transit system which serves multiple intermediate stations or a taxi which provides door to door transport. The maglev is super fast but only serves two stations, the airport and Pudong the central business district. Ridership is reportedly light, but enough to cover operating costs. It is however a must ride attraction for visiting foreigners.