PITTSBURGH — Maglev officials and some Penn Township residents opposed to routes being considered for the high-speed train are expected to meet tonight in Harrison City, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports.
A meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the township municipal building for maglev officials to discuss the project and answer questions. The informational session was organized by the Conservation Association of the Penn Township Area, or CAPA, and others.
“I’m hoping it will give a little bit more understanding of what maglev has in mind,” CAPA president Tom Transue said. “I think they’re willing to talk.
“I just don’t want everybody to stick their heads in the sand. I believe it’s closer to reality than people want to believe. And it has the potential of disturbing people’s lives.”
Maglev spokesman Bob Grove of the Port Authority of Allegheny County, which is involved in the project, said maglev officials want input from residents and to open the lines of communications.
“What I think the Penn Township officials have requested is that we go out … and bring them on line with what the project is, give them an update and answer their questions,” he said. “We want to have a dialogue with them, for sure.”
As part of the process, maglev officials have been holding hearings about the train, which uses magnetic levitation. Those hearings are separate from the one tonight.
In their written comments related to the hearings, the township’s commissioners have opposed two of three routes being studied in linking the section of the train between Monroeville and Greensburg. The other section links Monroeville with Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh International Airport in Findlay Township, Allegheny County.
The route most opposed by Penn cuts through much of the municipality and touches or runs on properties owned by township Commissioners Paul Wersing and Kenneth Darragh.
That route would begin at about the intersection of Beulah and Pleasant Valley roads and run to near McCullough. The route next would go to the Claridge area – where Wersing lives – on to the Grandview area, home to Darragh, before connecting with Greensburg.
The other route opposed by the township would run beside Pleasant Valley Road and the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
The third option uses areas along routes 22 and 66.
Township officials cited proximity of the train paths to Valley Landfill and Bushy Run Battlefield, lost tax revenue, depreciation of nearby land and effects on the “host fee” paid by the landfill to the township as reasons for opposing two of the three proposed routes. Questions also have arisen about costs to ride the train.
Grove said the routes are not finalized.
“They only have been proposed … and can be changed,” he said. “They’re not in stone.”
Transue said he likes some of what maglev could offer but hasn’t made a final decision about the project.
“I think conceptually, I like the idea. It has some bugs to be worked out, specifically, the price of it,” he said.
Transue said he would like to hear more from maglev officials about possible gains for the township – namely in tax revenue and jobs.
“Quite frankly, if it does come through Penn Township, let’s see what kind of financial benefits” there may be, Transue said.
Pennsylvania is competing with the Baltimore-Washington area to be home to the first maglev system in the country and for $950 million in start-up federal funds.
Those involved with the Pennsylvania project examining effects on the environment, costs, routes and other aspects.
This study, which resulted in hearings, is to be complete by late 2002 with federal officials expected to award the up-front money for one of the two projects in early 2003.
The system’s cost is estimated at $2.8 billion. The initial $950 million has not been issued by Congress. There is some question whether the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks may cause Congress to consider directing maglev funds elsewhere.
A new round of hearings related to the study is expected to begin in late January or early February, Grove said. The times and places for those sessions are undetermined.