PITTSBURGH — Linda Monahan of Penn Township went to a meeting Tuesday hoping to learn more about maglev, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports.
She left with few answers and more concerns about the high-speed train.
“I think we tried to come here with open minds,” Monahan said after the meeting, which was organized by the Conservation Association of the Penn Township Area, or CAPA, a citizens group. “I think we were here to listen, and I don’t think our questions were answered.”
The Level Green resident wasn’t alone in her feelings as about 175 township residents – many either opposed to the train or seeking more information about it – smacked head-on with maglev and its representatives at the township’s municipal building.
Township residents peppered the maglev officials with questions about property acquisition, possible routes through the municipality, benefits the township could gain from hosting a route, noise, Westmoreland County’s involvement in the project and more.
Maglev officials replied that they couldn’t answer many of the questions with detail because an Environmental Impact Study, or EIS, isn’t finished. But they added that they care about what the citizens had to say and think.
“We respect the fact that this is your home … and we are currently looking at your comments, and (they could) alter the alignments,” said Gary Antonella of the Port Authority of Allegheny County, which is involved in the project.
The train system would connect Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh International Airport in Findlay Township, Allegheny County, with Monroeville and the Greensburg area. The Pennsylvania project is competing with Baltimore-Washington to receive federal funds to be the first maglev system in the country.
Particularly at issue for Penn residents are two of three routes proposed through Westmoreland County because both would go through the township. Those two alignments already have been opposed by the township’s commissioners in comments sent to maglev.
The route most objected to by the commissioners cuts through much of the municipality and touches on or runs near 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 before connecting with the Greensburg area.
The other route the township opposes basically would run beside Pleasant Valley Road and the Pennsylvania Turnpike for its portion in the township. The third choice uses areas along routes 22 and 66.
In their reasons for opposing two of the routes, the township officials cited proximity of the train paths to the Valley Landfill and Bushy Run Battlefield, as well as lost tax revenue, depreciation of nearby land and effects on the “host fee” that the landfill pays to the township.
Maglev officials said last night that they couldn’t now say which of the three routes through Westmoreland County would be selected.
Lou Rocchini of the MSM Group, a joint venture of Maguire Group, Skelly and Loy Inc. and McCormick, Taylor and Associates Inc., said by the time another round of public hearings are held in January or February, his group might be able to give a better idea. Those hearings, which were unrelated to last night’s session, started in October.
But the selected route through Westmoreland County won’t be more concrete until a draft of the EIS is done, probably in late summer or early fall, he added.
That draft then would be subject to oral and written comments from the public as well as a public hearing before it must be revised and sent to the Federal Railroad Administration in December 2002. One of the two projects up for consideration then is expected to be awarded $950 million in up-front money in early 2003.
Dan Disk of maglev said the three Westmoreland routes are being considered because they meet design needs for the train, which will travel up to 240 mph. He said other areas, such as along railroad tracks suggested by the commissioners, don’t meet those needs.
“(The railroad routes) don’t conform to the geometric requirements for us to achieve the speed in that area,” he said.
Maglev representatives couldn’t answer questions about noise. They said results of a recent study aren’t expected to be published until January or February. Wersing said he believes Maglev needs to improve its communication with others.
“I found out about the thing in late October,” the commissioner said. “It kind of caught me blindsided.”
The high-speed train is currently used in Germany. Another one is under construction in China.
Maglev projects that the train, which uses magnetic levitation over an elevated track, would bring 1,800 permanent jobs immediately and 4,500 in spinoff employment. If approved by federal officials, the train eventually is expected to link with Philadelphia.
Maglev officials said the speed of the train makes it desirable. “Greensburg is 12 minutes away from downtown Pittsburgh,” Rocchini said, adding, “It makes the area of Greensburg much more attractive for development.”
Maglev officials said a three-car train could carry about 425 people, while a five-car one could transport about 725 people. At peak hours of use, a train could be sent every 7.5 minutes.