WASHINGTON — According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, transportation planners in Pittsburgh and Baltimore are working to meet a November deadline for refining their proposals to build the first U.S. high-speed magnetic levitation train system. But it’s still not clear either will get the necessary federal funding.
President Bush hasn’t taken a position on the maglev project, which was developed during the Clinton administration.
A powerful congressman may try to reopen the selection process by which the Pittsburgh and Baltimore-Washington projects were chosen as finalists for $950 million in federal maglev funding.
And, depending on whom you talk to, attempts to overhaul the financially troubled Amtrak passenger rail system will either help or hinder efforts to win support for maglev.
Federal Railroad Administration officials, who have jurisdiction over the maglev project, said last week that they expected Bush to reveal his general view of maglev technology “in the near future.”
Under the current timetable, federal officials are supposed to make a choice next spring between the Pittsburgh or Baltimore project. The winner is supposed to receive $950 million in federal funds to build the first U.S. maglev line and demonstrate the feasibility of the technology.
Pittsburgh proposes a $3 billion, 45-mile, high-speed system connecting Greensburg, Monroeville, Downtown and Pittsburgh International Airport. Maglev trains would travel at speeds up to 260 mph, whisking passengers from Greensburg to Monroeville in six minutes; from Monroeville to Pittsburgh in 11 minutes; and from Pittsburgh to the airport in seven minutes.
Baltimore proposes a $3.8 billion, 40-mile line that would go from Baltimore’s Camden Yards sports complex to Baltimore-Washington International Airport and then on to Union Station in Washington, a line used by many congressmen and high-powered politicians.
If Bush decides to oppose maglev funding, that would make it much harder, but not impossible, to move ahead with the project, supporters say. Congress still could earmark money for the project, although winning approval without White House support would be a challenge.
Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., one of the earliest congressional maglev proponents, said he was not too worried about White House support and believed that Bush may leave the decision to the Transportation Department. At the moment, Specter is focused on winning broad congressional support. “This is at the top of the agenda for me,” he said.
Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., agreed that White House silence so far wasn’t necessarily a bad sign. “In my mind, no news is good news,” Santorum said.
House Transportation Chairman Don Young, R-Alaska, would still like to rearrange the competition and refuses to give up hope for a maglev project linking Las Vegas and Southern California.
“I’m a strong supporter of the Las Vegas-Primm/Anaheim-Ontario [Calif.] project because it can be built at a lower cost, and most of the government land would be acquired at little or no cost to the taxpayer,” Young said.
“The project would be built on a straight and flat corridor unlike the other projects under consideration.”
Although that project was rejected as a finalist by the Clinton administration, Young’s pivotal congressional position could force federal officials to reopen the selection process.
Even so, Young has been openly critical of the Baltimore proposal and openly friendly toward the Pittsburgh project.
Young contends the Baltimore-Washington corridor already has several viable transportation systems and was recently quoted as saying, “I can stop [it].” Of the Pittsburgh project, he has said, “It does have merit.”
Young repeated this point last week in a meeting with Allegheny County Chief Executive Jim Roddey. “He thinks it’s a good project,” Roddey said. “But he hasn’t indicated if he thinks the Pittsburgh project is better than the Las Vegas one, or vice versa.”
Roddey discussed maglev with members of the Pennsylvania congressional delegation during his two-day visit to Washington, lobbying for $28 million needed to fund continued design work on the project.
“Right now, there are more questions than answers about maglev. I think we really need to hear from the [Bush] administration. And the question of whether there are just going to be two finalists is also a question mark,” Roddey said.
There’s also the question of local funding, he said.
“If Pittsburgh were chosen today, we would need to come up with the $500 million for the match of the first phase of the project. We’re assuming that the state would be there with a substantial portion of that. But we need to be thinking about that.
“Everyone is focused on the federal grant, but we need to be thinking just as hard about the local part. I’m not saying that we can’t do it, but we need to understand where the rest of that money is coming from,” Roddey said.
The Pittsburgh and Baltimore projects were chosen in January 2001 as the two finalists for the federal maglev demonstration project. Transportation officials in the two cities are completing environmental impact statements, finalizing cost estimates and checking out various routes for their projects.
Detailed proposals must be submitted to the Federal Railroad Administration by the end of November.
One consideration will be the degree of local support expressed for the projects. In both Pittsburgh and Maryland, recent hearings on proposed maglev routes have drawn concern about noise, potential condemnation of property and other effects.
As the United States debates whether to maglev or not to maglev, China is moving ahead quickly on what will be the world’s first commercial high-speed maglev system when it begins operation by early next year. The $1.7 billion line will link the rapidly growing city of Shanghai with its airport 19 miles away.