PITTSBURGH — The latest maglev prototype proposes an extended route through Westmoreland County and a new station near the Mellon Arena at a cost of $2.7 billion, WTAE’s Chris Glorioso reported.
The altered route for the region’s high-speed magnetic levitation train would add about three miles to bypass some areas that brought about objections from various neighborhoods.
The suggested route is now 50 miles, rather than 47. Also, the plan would extend the Greensburg-to-Pittsburgh International Airport trip to 30 minutes, rather than 28.
The Mellon Arena area is, according to the new plan, the city’s pickup/dropoff point. It was originally to have been Station Square.
Plans will be open for discussion at four public meetings this month.
The maglev system would feature trains traveling in excess of 240 mph, using electromagnetic technology for propulsion and levitation, with stations called MAGports to be built at Pittsburgh International Airport, at Station Square or Mellon Arena, in Monroeville and in Greensburg.
The Pittsburgh area is competing with Baltimore-Washington D.C. to land federal money for the project.
The Monroeville-based Maglev Inc. is partnered publicly with the Port Authority of Allegheny County in completing an environmental impact statement by next spring.
The impact statements are to be submitted to the Federal Railroad Administration by April. The agency will pick one of the two projects by the end of 2003.