Could America’s fastest train whisk us away from $4-a-gallon gas guzzlers?

[Dover]

The magnetic levitating train, or "maglev," can travel at up to 310 mph, and could compete with commercial airplanes, which cruise at about 550 mph.


America’s fastest train moves ahead

MSNBC
By Jasmin Aline Persch
June. 25, 2008
Could America’s fastest train whisk us away from $4-a-gallon gas guzzlers?

Thanks to a $45 million infusion from a transportation bill signed by President Bush in early June, there could someday be a magnetic levitating train, or “maglev,” soaring from Disneyland to Las Vegas at a maximum speed of 310 mph — 180 mph on average.

After the research phase is complete in about three years, the private partnership behind the effort, American Magline Group, comes to its biggest crossroads: obtaining $12 billion in funding for construction.
Neil Cummings, who heads AMG, said that he believes a California-Nevada maglev could run as soon as 2015.

“If we had the money tomorrow, we’d build it in five years,” he said.

What’s slowing down America’s fastest train, however, is the hefty cost of crafting the infrastructure — including the guideway — from scratch, because the fastest train can’t run on ordinary steel tracks. The $45 million from the federal government will only cover pre-construction obligations, including environmental testing in the Mojave Desert, where the line would be laid.

..cont'd

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25265682/

[bananas]

1. "If we had the money tomorrow, we'd build it in five years"

and if we have the money in five years, we'd build it in 25 years.

[cyclezealot]

2. It could . but unlikely

THe US has so ignored its infrastructure. We don't even have the facilities to make train cars. Thanks to our neglect, we don't have the ability to make subway cars. Last I read we buy them from a Canadian firm.

[tom_paine]

7. Exactly. n/t

[Dogmudgeon]

3. A billion here, a billion there ...

... and pretty soon, you're talking about Iraq War money.

--p!

[Selatius]

4. A president who tried to replace interstates with maglev trains would be assassinated.

He'd make an enemy out of oil companies and auto makers who make their bread and butter on an infrastructure that requires Americans to drive a car everywhere. If America built a sophisticated, integrated mass transit system as good or even better than that seen in western Europe, oil companies and car companies would lose hundreds of billions to trillions in future profits.

[Ian David]

5. If only we had an extra $12 billion lying around. Where could all our money have gone? n/t

[madrchsod]

6. never going to happen.....

a 45 million gift to research for a doomed future

[losthills]

8. These things are a boondoggle of the first "mag"nitude,

and totally unsuited to a big sprawled out country like the US. We'd be better off taking care of and improving the rail system that we already have and developing better vehicles to use the highway system that we've already invested billions in.

[kentauros]

10. Of course, I'd like to see "robot cars" or automated driving systems.

The technology exists right now for it and the auto manufacturers know this, too. However, to quote from a NYT story I read on that subject just a few years ago, the car makers "don't want to take the fun out of driving". Yeah, like getting stuck in a daily traffic jam both ways is "fun". Automate the system and traffic jams would be a thing of the past. Fuel usage would drop considerably from daily commutes alone. There would also be fewer accidents. People could yap on their phones, surf the net, text, or whatever, to their heart's desire, with no detrimental effect on their "driving" ;)

But I do support increased rail service, for all speeds and distances. This isn't an "either/or" situation; it's an "all of the above" situation :)

[tinrobot]

9. Forget maglev, just put in rails.

Maglev is very expensive per mile. European and Japanese bullet trains already can get 300mph on rails.

[freethought]

12. Didn't the French test

an updated design of high-speed train that was able to reach nearly 358 mph? Nearly as fast as jet!!

[NNadir]

13. Yes they did.

The train was powered by nuclear electricity.

[tinrobot]

15. And the reactor was in the baggage car...

If they hadn't used all that lead shielding, it would have topped 500mph.

[freethought]

11. The Chinese have already put such a system in

I believe it is a short line that has been built in Shanghai. About 12 miles long, going from the city to the airport. Supposed to be working great as far as I have read. And new and larger systems are being planned as well.

Just about every other country in the world is going to beat us in utlizing new types of technology and infastructure.

[Doctor Cynic]

17. And it's a failure.

Everyone there ridicules the maglev as a white elephant, and a planned extension was killed by NIMBYs. If NIMBYs can kill a maglev in a country with re-education camps, they will kill them in the USA.

[kestrel91316]

14. The NIMBYs will never allow it. Lawsuits will tie this thing up until

the NEXT century.

[Dover]

16. Wikipedia has some great info on this train...the pros and cons and current use in China/Japan.

The first commercial Maglev "people-mover" was officially opened in 1984 in Birmingham, England. It operated on an elevated 600-metre (1,969 ft) section of monorail track between Birmingham International Airport and Birmingham International railway station. It ran at 42 km/h (26 mph) until the system was eventually closed in 1995 due to reliability and design problems.

The best-known high-speed maglev currently operating commercially is the IOS (initial operating segment) demonstration line of the German built Transrapid train in Shanghai, China that transports people 30 km (18.6 miles) to the airport in just 7 minutes 20 seconds, achieving a top velocity of 431 km/h (268 mph), averaging 250 km/h (150 mph).

Other commercially operating lines exist in Japan, such as the Linimo line. Maglev projects worldwide are being studied for feasibility. In Japan at the Yamanashi test track, current maglev train technology is mature, but costs and problems remain a barrier to development, alternative technologies are being developed to address those issues...cont'd

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_levitation_train

[TreasonousBastard]

18. Oh, bullshit...

the cost of this thing is enormous and can't possibly compete with the air infrastructure already out there. If it's fuel we're worried about, concentrate on more efficient airplanes and short-haul rail.

There was a high-speed rail line proposed for somewhere in Texas years ago, maybe Houston-Dallas, but when someone realized Southwest was flying you on the same route in half the time for $25 back then, the whole idea was dropped. Southwest may be charging more now, but everything else has gone up, too.

And, I heard years ago (but am not going to spend time looking it up) that the French found that at sustained speeds over something like 200 mph or so the rail passengers got queasy and very nervous when they saw those trees flying by.