New federal funds revive Maglev project

Las Vegas Business Press ^ | Monday, August 22, 2005 | TONY ILLIA

[Willie Green]

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.

The newly reauthorized federal transportation bill allocates $45 million for a super high-speed train connecting Las Vegas to Anaheim, a project that was first proposed over 17 years ago.

"I believe the Maglev train will be the future of travel between places like Southern Nevada and Southern California," said Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., who helped secure funding. "Airports are overburdened with the amount of short-haul flights and we must start reinvesting in train travel."

Maglev (magnetic levitation) uses high-powered magnets to propel trains above an elevated track. Since there is no friction, trains can travel up to 300 mph and climb 10 percent grades. A test track in Hamburg, Germany, would be used as a model for the proposed Las Vegas-to-Anaheim line.

In 1988 the California-Nevada Super Speed Train Commission was formed as a public-private joint-venture to promote a high-speed link between the two states. For decades, the two cities were connected by Amtrak's Desert Wind long-distance train, but in 1997 the financially troubled rail operator stopped service.

Now, after years of studies and millions in federal subsidies, the super-speed train could finally break ground on an initial 42-mile segment from Primm to Las Vegas as early as 2008. The lightning-quick trip would take only 18 minutes from start-to-finish. A complete journey to Southern California would last 86 minutes.

Construction would cost an estimated $1.5 billion, or $35.7 million per track mile.

But why go to Primm? The rural area is sparsely developed except for MGM Mirage casinos including Buffalo Bill's, Primm Valley and Whiskey Pete's, and its two championship golf courses. The gaming giant also owns the Gold Strike and Nevada Landing in nearby Jean.

"It's going to be an exciting and thrilling ride to experience similar to Disneyland," said Bruce Aguilera, chairman of the Super Speed Train Commission, who also serves as vice president and general counsel for the Bellagio hotel-casino, MGM Mirage's flagship Strip property. "Once it gets up and running, I think more people will want to participate."

The commission will use the $45 million federal allocation for completing an environmental impact statement. The study is a necessary step for construction to move forward. The Nevada Department of Transportation will oversee the study, which is expected to take 18 to 24 months to complete. Next, the project will launch a multi-pronged fundraising campaign.

While Aguilera shuns comparisons with the Las Vegas Monorail, he hopes to use a similar business model to underwrite Maglev's construction and operational expenses. The project could issue revenue bonds, offer an IPO, and/or sell advertising and sponsorships to corporate partners. Construction of the full 269-mile route to Anaheim is estimated to cost $6.8 billion.

Meantime, echoes of the Strip's financially troubled monorail hover in the background. The project has been plagued by technical troubles and lower-than-anticipated ridership figures in a region that is best-known for its love affair with cars rather than mass transit.

Despite California's heavy debt, project backers remain optimistic that the full line can be built. Indian casinos could, however, play a political role in derailing the project. Tribal gaming and ancillary businesses generated $1.8 billion for state coffers in 2004 through income, sales, and excise taxes. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger reached a pact with five leading gaming tribes to pay $1-billion to the state last year to help keep it fiscally afloat. Those casinos are unlikely to back a super-speed link to their competitors and could make it tough at election time for California politicians who support the rail line.

"If we don't go to the state, I don't think the Indian gaming casinos will have a problem with it," Aguilera said. "[The Maglev] is a way to ease traffic congestion and eliminate pollution."

[Willie Green]

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Magnetic levitation (Maglev) is an advanced technology in which magnetic forces lift, propel, and guide a vehicle over a guideway. Utilizing state-of-the-art electric power and control systems, this configuration eliminates contact between vehicle and guideway and permits cruising speeds of up to 300 mph, or almost two times the speed of conventional high-speed rail service. Because of its high speed, Maglev offers competitive trip-time savings to auto and aviation modes in the 40- to 600-mile travel markets–an ideal travel option for the 21st century.

Both the Pennsylvania and Baltimore-Washington plans utilize maglev technology developed by Transrapid International. The German design is based on a conventional non-superconductingelectromagnetic/attractive magnetic configuration, and has received extensive testing at a full-scale test track in Emsland, Germany. The latest design represents over 20 years of design evolution and 15 years' testing of full-scale Transrapid prototypes, including safety certification by the German government for passenger-carrying revenue service at speeds of 250 mph or higher.

Highlights of the Transrapid system are:

• High cruising speeds of 200 to 300 mph (320 kph to 480 kph)
  

• Fast acceleration and braking with outstanding passenger comfort
  

• Can climb 10% grades at full speed
  

• Safe operation on dedicated grade-separated track, or guideway
  

• Vehicle wraps around guideway to reduce risk of derailment
  

• Low electromagnetic field emission and interference potential
  

• Standard superelevation, or tilt, of 12 degrees (max. up to 16 degrees) to navigate curves
  

• Proven and tested automatic operations control system
  

• Minimal guideway maintenance with small footprint
  

• High system capacity
  

• Guideway energized sequentially for dynamic vehicle "block" control and reduced power demand
  

• Improved aerodynamic vehicle design for minimal turbulence
  

• Multiple levels of redundancy built in for safe operations at all speeds
  

• Final safety approval anticipated in Germany for commercial operations
  

• Prior evaluation and safety analysis by the US Department of
  Transportation accepted Transrapid for deployment in Orlando, Florida in 1992

The Transrapid is suitable for transporting goods as well. For high-speed cargo transport, special cargo sections can be combined with passenger sections or assembled to form dedicated cargo trains (payload up to 18 tons per section). As the propulsion system is in the guideway, neither the length of the vehicle nor the payload affect the acceleration power.

If you would like more information about Maglev, visit the Transrapid International website or Maglev of Pennsylvania or the Baltimore-Washington Maglev Project

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Archive reference:
U.S. funding for maglev isn't a lock -- Pittsburgh, Las Vegas, Baltimore vying
Backers again float plan for Las Vegas-to-Anaheim maglev train

A couple years ago, the competition for the initial, pilot Maglev project was narrowed to Pittsburgh and Baltimore-Washington. As an engineer, I favor Pittsburgh because the challenges presented by the hilly terrain and winter climate would best demonstrate Maglev's advantages under these "adverse" conditions.

I have nothing against the LV-Primm project, other than it doesn't present much of a technical challenge. And the fact that it stops halfway in the middle of nowhere. Granted, it'll have some ridership as a novelty tourist attraction. But it won't really fulfill it's potential until the route is completed all the way to Anaheim.

So of the 3 projects, I still personally favor Pittsburgh.
But if I really had my own way, construction of ALL THREE should be accelerated.

[Kevin OMalley]

cool

[Pessimist]

"Construction would cost an estimated $1.5 billion, or $35.7 million per track mile."

Bet the final tally will double that.

But hey, its all other people's money, right?

[longtermmemmory]

I wish they would scrap these mass transit white elephants and make it so I could buy a consumer vehicle that would self drive. We would be able to avoid the boodogle of construction, use current roads, and not have the same security considerations.

[Willie Green]

HEY, WTF kind of scumbag is Don Young anyway?

Look at what the SOB is doing:
He's handing Harry Reid a showcase transportation project on a silver platter, and undermining the better technological test project in the process.
The only thing I can figure is that the corrupt scumbag is hellbent on keeping us petro-dependent and the price of oil propped up in the long term. He's trying to postpone nationwide Maglev by portraying it as a tourist attraction that'll only work in Vegas. That stinkin' slimeball oughta be booted out of office.

[vrwinger]

How long is the German test track? It's full size, apparently, but they never say how long it is.

[Willie Green]

Bet the final tally will double that.

Nah. Lotta empty dessert between Vegas and Primm.
Acquisition of right-of-way will be dirt cheap.

[longtermmemmory]

Perhaps we should just get one of the airlines to build it.

They are in the people moving business not the airplane business. It fits their function.

[Martin Tell]

I still personally favor Pittsburgh.

Why? So we'll finally know the answer to the perpetual math problem of which train reaches Pittsburgh first?

[RightWhale]

First time I heard Young speak was over thirty years ago when he was a freshman. Highly platitudinous speaker, successful politicians do that naturally. He has figured out that the purpose of Congress is to support business. Business consists of the private property rights of the conglomerates, the cartels, the international corporations. Yes, he supports private property rights, but he cannot be specific.

[Willie Green]

How long is the German test track? It's full size, apparently, but they never say how long it is.

They have a 19-mile loop in Emsland, Germany.

[truth_seeker]

"But if I really had my own way, construction of ALL THREE should be accelerated."

A couple of relevant questions:

Is such travel energy efficient? IOW does it compare favorably to gasoline powered automobiles, and trains using other fuels?

Does the train pay for itself, or is it to be subsidized, from other fund sources?

Lotsa people drive from SoCal to Vegas. It is approximately a tank of gas and four hours time.

[Moral Hazard]

And this is better than flying to Las Vegas airport because.....?

[Willie Green]

Why? So we'll finally know the answer to the perpetual math problem of which train reaches Pittsburgh first?

Because it's a pilot, demonstration project.
Pittsburgh's hilly terrain and seasonal climate variation present the most difficult technical challenge to Maglev technology.
Prove the technology in the most challenging environment, and it'll become easier to implement elsewhere.

[Willie Green]

Faster and more fuel efficient than short-hop air travel from Southern California.

[Moral Hazard]

"Faster and more fuel efficient than short-hop air travel from Southern California."

I live in San Diego. It would take me less time to get to the airport and fly all the way to Vegas than it would take me to just get to the train station in Anaheim.

[Martin Tell]

Makes sense.

I like trains much better than air travel, but I'm not wild about govt subsidies.

Is mag-lev promising enough for non-subsidized service?

[chudogg]

Whats 45 million gonna do? Probably print up a nice shiny 50 page report.

[Willie Green]

Is such travel energy efficient? IOW does it compare favorably to gasoline powered automobiles, and trains using other fuels?

Yes it is, especially when you factor in speed of travel.
On the Anaheim-Primm route, I suspect it's a toss-up between Maglev and high-speed rail.
The high-speed rail would have a construction cost advantage since it travels primarily on ground-level railbed. Maglev's overhead track is more costly, but begins to have cost advantages on rugged terrain that's difficult to grade, and in congested areas where the smaller "footprint" for support becomes less expensive than razing a ground level right-of-way.

Maglev is also faster than high-speed rail, and with fewer moving parts, is less expensive to mechanicly maintain.

[Willie Green]

I live in San Diego. It would take me less time to get to the airport and fly all the way to Vegas than it would take me to just get to the train station in Anaheim.

There are long term plans to eventually tie it all together in a network.
Maglev on I-5: The Shapery of things to come?