Backers again float plan for Las Vegas-to-Anaheim maglev train

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ^ | June 22, 2004 | Associated Press

[Willie Green]

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Backers of an expensive high-speed train between southern Nevada and Southern California are floating tentative plans for an initial Las Vegas-to-Primm segment.

"Funding is the most important component of it," said Richann Johnson, executive assistant for the California-Nevada Super Speed Train Commission, a nonprofit corporation seeking to build the line.

Johnson, a city of Las Vegas economic development official, said during a public hearing Monday at Las Vegas City Hall that once people see the maglev train whisking passengers past traffic-packed Interstate 15, investors will support it.

The 40-mile initial segment to Primm, at the Nevada-California state line, is expected to cost $1.4 billion. Officials say the entire 269-mile line to Anaheim, Calif., could cost $10 billion.

Maglev trains would reach Primm in 12 to 18 minutes, and Anaheim in under 96 minutes, officials say, at speeds averaging more than 200 mph. Driving from Las Vegas to Anaheim can take four hours or more.

[Willie Green]

Related thread: MAGLEV AN OPTION FOR SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

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Magnetic levitation (Maglev) is an advanced technology in which magnetic forces lift, propel, and guide a vehicle over a guideway. Utilizing state-of-the-art electric power and control systems, this configuration eliminates contact between vehicle and guideway and permits cruising speeds of up to 300 mph, or almost two times the speed of conventional high-speed rail service. Because of its high speed, Maglev offers competitive trip-time savings to auto and aviation modes in the 40- to 600-mile travel markets–an ideal travel option for the 21st century.

Both the Pennsylvania and Baltimore-Washington plans utilize maglev technology developed by Transrapid International. The German design is based on a conventional non-superconductingelectromagnetic/attractive magnetic configuration, and has received extensive testing at a full-scale test track in Emsland, Germany. The latest design represents over 20 years of design evolution and 15 years' testing of full-scale Transrapid prototypes, including safety certification by the German government for passenger-carrying revenue service at speeds of 250 mph or higher.

Highlights of the Transrapid system are:

• High cruising speeds of 200 to 300 mph (320 kph to 480 kph)
  

• Fast acceleration and braking with outstanding passenger comfort
  

• Can climb 10% grades at full speed
  

• Safe operation on dedicated grade-separated track, or guideway
  

• Vehicle wraps around guideway to reduce risk of derailment
  

• Low electromagnetic field emission and interference potential
  

• Standard superelevation, or tilt, of 12 degrees (max. up to 16 degrees) to navigate curves
  

• Proven and tested automatic operations control system
  

• Minimal guideway maintenance with small footprint
  

• High system capacity
  

• Guideway energized sequentially for dynamic vehicle "block" control and reduced power demand
  

• Improved aerodynamic vehicle design for minimal turbulence
  

• Multiple levels of redundancy built in for safe operations at all speeds
  

• Final safety approval anticipated in Germany for commercial operations
  

• Prior evaluation and safety analysis by the US Department of
  Transportation accepted Transrapid for deployment in Orlando, Florida in 1992

The Transrapid is suitable for transporting goods as well. For high-speed cargo transport, special cargo sections can be combined with passenger sections or assembled to form dedicated cargo trains (payload up to 18 tons per section). As the propulsion system is in the guideway, neither the length of the vehicle nor the payload affect the acceleration power.

If you would like more information about Maglev, visit the Transrapid International website or Maglev of Pennsylvania or the Baltimore-Washington Maglev Project

[Izzy Dunne]

Funding is the most important component of it,

Nothing gets by these folks, eh?

Seems to me like some Vegas entrepeneur should foot the bill on this - they stand to gain the most.

If you want to bet big, then bet BIG.

[Phantom Lord]

"Funding is the most important component of it," said Richann Johnson, executive assistant for the California-Nevada Super Speed Train Commission, a nonprofit corporation seeking to build the line

Translation: No private business will pour billions into this boondoggle so we have to find a way to take it from taxpayers.

[Constitution Day]

Miss Hoover: I hear those things are awfully loud...
Lyle Lanley: It glides as softly as a cloud.
Apu: Is there a chance the track could bend?
Lyle Lanley: Not on your life, my Hindu friend.
Barney: What about us brain-dead slobs?
Lyle Lanley: You'll be given cushy jobs.
Abe: Were you sent here by the devil?
Lyle Lanley: No, good sir, I'm on the level.
Wiggum: The ring came off my pudding can.
Lyle Lanley: Take my pen knife, my good man.

[erikm88]

"Funding is the most important component of it,"

ya think??

--erik

[LexBaird]

"Funding is the most important component of it,"

And as long as it is privately funded, I'm all for it. If any route in the US could make high speed trains profitable, it is L.A. to Vegas. It's a four hour trip -- unless it happens to be on Friday or Sunday. Then, it's a 300 mile crawl.

[Walkingfeather]

well now that arnold expanded the indian gaming in california yesterday with a 30 year deal it is not in the states interest to build a train to vegas. They blew it. Should have been done a decade ago. Now why should the state encourage people to gamble in another state so nevada can have the tax income. I imagine we will see huge casinos built all around now. With proposition 5 that passed a few years ago any land bought by the tribes is then considered tribal land... thus able to have a casino.

[winodog]

William Braire was mayor of vegas from 75 to 87 and this was his big dream. He lobbied for it then and after his reign as mayor ended. He was a visionary and I thought for sure we would see the train by now. With the mega hotels and the mega money you would think the hotels would build this.Of course maybe they know something that the rest of us are just learning and that is so cal is turning into a third world country and the folks with money might just be disappearing.

[pogo101]

The Monorail Song

Lyle Lanley:  Well, sir, there's nothing on earth
              Like a genuine,
	      Bona fide,
	      Electrified,
	      Six-car
              Monorail! ...
              What'd I say?
Ned Flanders: Monorail!
Lyle Lanley:  What's it called?
Patty+Selma:  Monorail!
Lyle Lanley:  That's right!  Monorail!
	      [crowd chants `Monorail' softly and rhythmically]
Miss Hoover:  I hear those things are awfully loud...
Lyle Lanley:  It glides as softly as a cloud.
Apu:          Is there a chance the track could bend?
Lyle Lanley:  Not on your life, my Hindu friend.
Barney:       What about us brain-dead slobs?
Lyle Lanley:  You'll all be given cushy jobs.
Abe:          Were you sent here by the devil?
Lyle Lanley:  No, good sir, I'm on the level.
Wiggum:       The ring came off my pudding can.
Lyle Lanley:  Take my pen knife, my good man.
              I swear it's Springfield's only choice...
              Throw up your hands and raise your voice!
All:          [singing] Monorail!
Lyle Lanley:  What's it called?
All:          Monorail!
Lyle Lanley:  Once again...
All:          Monorail!
Marge:        But Main Street's still all cracked and broken...
Bart:         Sorry, Mom, the mob has spoken!
All:          [singing] Monorail!
              Monorail!
              Monorail!
	      [big finish]
              Monorail!
Homer:        Mono...  D'oh!

[Willie Green]

You know, I wish I had started keeping a count of the number of times I've seen that posted to these threads on transportation issues. I'm really quite curious as to how many different pinheads there have been who think it's a "clever" contribution to intelligent discussion.

[pogo101]

I think the pinhead is you, sweetie. The point of the episode -- it eluded you, so I'll fill you in -- wherein the song is sung is that, even if the rail-transit-boosters aren't as corrupt as The Music Man, nevertheless the rail systems in question are usually boondoggles, whose funding would be better spent on traditional infrastructure in most cases.

(And I'm not the only one who thought the song and the 1993 episode were clever for reasons beyond the rhyming parody of "Music Man." It's uniformly considered one of the best episodes, and part of the reason why is because it dares to challenge the orthodoxy of People Like You -- and has a sense of humor, unlike you, while doing so.)

Now then: If you don't like the fact that the song and the episode do such a nice job of skewering the utter failure of most such projects, then go cry privately. Or, be different! Instead of starting with the "pinhead" insults, reply with some ways in which the current proposal supposedly will be different from the many boondoggles we've seen in the past. Meanwhile, you shall keep your insults to your "pinheaded" self, sweetie, or get back at least as good as you give.

[Atlas Sneezed]

Why not just eliminate the daytime speed limit on I-15?

[Atlas Sneezed]

Driving from Las Vegas to Anaheim can take four hours or more.

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Unfortunately, most Angelenos live an hour or more from Anaheim. And once they get to Vegas, they will need to wait for 90 minutes in a cab line to get to their hotel.

Driving will still be faster for many people.

[Willie Green]

Thanks for illustrating my point.

[kingu]

The first segment is Vegas to Primm? Is this a joke, or what? Why not build Anaheim to Ontario as the first segment, thus showing that you can overcome the hardest portion of the build - the segment through the heavily populated area that will cost the most.

1.4 billion to build out in the middle of nowhere. Whoopie. I think I'd rather have the 100 billion (when they get done) spent on something more practical.

[kingu]

With proposition 5 that passed a few years ago any land bought by the tribes is then considered tribal land... thus able to have a casino.

Takes a little more than that.. It has to be accepted into trust by the Federal government on behalf of the tribe (else it's not federal land, and thus under the control of the IGRA.)

Remote mega casinos is likely to be the rule of thumb for a long while to come.

[pogo101]

No, thank YOU for illustrating mine! You still have nothing to say in substance, i.e. that maglevs aren't just boondoggles, or that THIS one won't be. Telling.

[A CA Guy]

A round trip $10 ticket? I'm there.