PITTSBURGH — The maglev express barreled through Penn Township recently, touting claims of speedy travel from Greensburg to Pittsburgh but offering very little in the way of answers to residents’ questions, according to an editorial in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
Property owners have a significant stake in exactly where the elevated track would run. Two of three proposed routes through Westmoreland County would pass through the township; both have been opposed by township commissioners.
Maglev representatives said many questions will be answered by an environmental impact study, but a draft of the report from that study won’t be available until late summer or early fall next year.
Nor could maglev’s proponents address residents’ concerns about noise; results of a recent study aren’t expected until January or February.
But, by golly, they know for a fact that maglev could make the trip from Greensburg to downtown Pittsburgh in a mere 12 minutes at speeds of up to 240 mph. It would bring thousands of jobs to the area, they say. (That is, if southwestern Pennsylvania wins approval to build the $2.6 billion project. There’s a competing proposal for the Baltimore-Washington, D.C., area.)
A decision by the Federal Railroad Administration is expected by early 2003. Does that leave enough time to address all the residents’ questions and concerns?
All along we’ve been critical of maglev, in part because of the dearth of hard facts. Beyond the local impact to communities such as Penn Township, taxpayers are being asked to become venture capitalists in a big-ticket proposal without a prospectus.
The Conservation Association of Penn Township Area, which arranged the meeting with maglev officials, needs to stay on top of this important issue. And maglev’s proponents, at the very least, must put some speed behind their response to residents’ concerns.