PITTSBURGH — Planners who want to bring a highly touted high-speed magnetic rail project to the Pittsburgh region have already submitted their draft plans, hoping to beat out the Baltimore-Washington area for federal funding, the Associated Press reported.
But with federal officials expected to decide early next year which of the two regions will get the demonstration project, plenty of questions remain.
The Pennsylvania draft plan, for instance, includes a route that still could change, with some municipalities wanting no part of maglev. Then there are worries that a slumping economy – not to mention an ongoing war against terrorism and potential conflict with Iraq – could make $950 million in federal funding for the project too dear.
At stake is not only the money for the cutting-edge project, but bragging rights, tourism dollars and a lure for new businesses.
“It would put Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania back on the map in terms of transportation,” said Fred Gurney, chief executive officer for Maglev Inc., a consortium of labor and business backing the idea for the Pittsburgh region.
Maglev technology, which is already in use in Germany and being built in China, uses magnetic forces to propel a vehicle over a guideway at speeds of more than 240 mph. Supporters believe it could eventually compete with airlines for trips of up to 600 miles and ultimately envision a network of hubs connecting cities across the country.
The planned 54-mile system in western Pennsylvania would run from Pittsburgh International Airport, which is about 15 miles east of the city, to Pittsburgh and on through the suburbs to Greensburg, about 25 miles east. In Maryland, the route would run about 40 miles from Baltimore to Washington, D.C.
Estimated costs for either project are more than $3 billion and planners don’t envision either one being operational until about 2010.
Meanwhile, planners have had their hands full with problems that have arisen since the two regions were named finalists for the project in January 2001.
In the Pittsburgh area, for instance, Penn and Robinson townships are questioning the project, saying they weren’t involved enough in planning. Residents in the communities say they don’t want to lose their homes to the proposed line even if maglev planners argue they have tried to select the least disruptive route.
“There’s a real good question whether it should be done at all,” said David Shuman, a transportation consultant who conducted a study for officials in Penn Township who opposed the favored route.
Shuman said rail speeds have greatly increased since maglev technology first started being considered in the United States and that trains long in use in Japan and France can run at nearly 200 mph – practically as fast as maglev would travel. He say it would be cheaper to pursue technology able to make use of existing rails and rights of way.
“It’s reinvention of the wheel right now,” Shuman said.
The consultant believes that while opposition in the Pittsburgh area has been limited to town officials and residents over the route, some people in Maryland have been questioning not only that, but why the money should be spent at all.
In Robinson Township, west of Pittsburgh, more than 100 people attended a public meeting Wednesday, most of them opposing a route through the township.
“We are not going to sit on this. We do not want this going through the heart of our community,” said resident Dan Vete Jr.
Vukan R. Vuchic, a professor of transportation engineering at the University of Pennsylvania, said economic conditions and rider projections for maglev are too optimistic and thinks money for maglev would be better spent on existing systems.
“There is very little that maglev can do better than modern high speed rail. … Amtrak doesn’t get enough money to maintain itself and here we would be spending billions to duplicate it,” Vuchic said. “You don’t correct wrong policy by changing wheels into magnetic waves.”
Shuman believes maglev will be put on hold because of concerns with the economy. The legislation authorizing $950 million in funding expires next fall and would have to be reauthorized.
“The timing is very bad,” Shuman said.
State Sen. Jack Wagner, an Allegheny County Democrat, said he is also skeptical that the project will proceed on time.
“I have not heard anything positive from Washington,” he said.
Even Gurney acknowledged there are “higher priority items,” including the economy and international tensions.
Suhair Alkhatib, maglev project manager for the Maryland Transit Administration, agreed.
“The nation’s priorities are a little different today than they were two or three years ago,” he said.