Mayors back high-speed California-Las Vegas train

The 269 mile route between Las Vegas and Anaheim is certainly a candidate for High Speed Ground Transportation (HSGT)and alleviating traffic congestion along I-15. However, it has not yet been determined whether the best HSGT to utilize is high-speed rail or Maglev.

High-Speed rail is usually less costly to build since it travels on a railbed similar to conventional rail. It can achieve speeds up to 190 mph, but is restricted to grades of (at most) 1~2%.

Maglev, OTOH, is much faster at 300 mph, and can negotiate steep grades up to 10%. However, it travels along an elevated guideway that is more expensive to construct. These costs can be competitive with high-speed rail IF the terrain being traversed is very hilly/rugged or densely populated. Under those conditions, construction of the elevated guideway can be less expensive than tunneling/grading, highway-railroad crossings, etc. etc. associated with typical railroad tracks.

The reason that the Federal Railway Administration rejected the Las Vegas - Primm proposal is that it did not meet the criteria necessary to prove the viability of Maglev technology. Neither the terrain, nor the climate is much of a challenge for Maglev. And considering that "Primm" is not even a town (it's a casino on the California/Nevada border), it would generate insufficient ridership to prove its transportation value for the general public. It would be merely another tourist attraction for the casinos.

The sinister aspect of this story is that House Transportation Secretary Don Young is aware of this. And his insistance on resurrecting the Las Vegas to Primm proposal can only be viewed as an attempt to postpone and sidetrack implementation of Maglev technology. It should be no surprise that this representative of the Oil Industry is teaming-up with anti-nuclear power Democrat Harry Reid. The agenda that both share is keeping the United States dependent on imported oil.

U.S. Petroleum & Crude Oil Overview
(thousand barrels per day)
	1960	1965	1970	1975	1980	1985	1990	1995	2000
U.S. Crude Oil Production	7,035	7,804	9,637	8,375	8,597	8,971	7,355	6,560	5,834
U.S. Petroleum Imports	1,815	2,468	3,419	6,056	6,909	5,067	8,018	8,835	11,093
Total	8,850	10,272	13,056	14,431	15,506	14,038	15,373	15,395	16,927
Imports as % of Total	20.5	24.0	26.2	42.0	44.6	36.1	52.2	57.4	65.5

What is High Speed Ground Transportation?

High-speed ground transportation (HSGT)-- a family of technologies ranging from upgraded existing railroads to magnetically levitated vehicles-- is a passenger transportation option that can best link cities lying about 100-500 miles apart. Common in Europe ( The European Railway Server) and Japan (Japan Railways),HSGT in the United States already exists in the Northeast Corridor (Amtrak) between New York and Washington, D.C. and will soon serve travelers between New York and Boston.

HSGT is self-guided intercity passenger ground transportation that is time competitive with air and/or auto on a door-to-door basis for trips in the approximate range of 100 to 500 miles. This is market-based, not a speed based definition. It recognizes that the opportunities and requirements for HSGT differ markedly among different pairs of cities. High-speed ground transportation (HSGT) is a family of technologies ranging from upgraded steel-wheel-on-rail railroads to magnetically levitated vehicles.

The Federal Railroad Administration has designated a variety of high density transportation corridors within our nation for development of HSGT:

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For more information, please visit the Federal Railroad Administration’s (FRA’s) High Speed Ground Transportation Website

"Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman told House and Senate staffers Tuesday that his region needs the train to reduce highway congestion and improve air quality."

Who's he trying to kid? He needs it so it will bring more money from people who should know better into the casinos where the money can be legally stolen from them!

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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

Yummy, one easy terrorist target I bet.

You won't catch me on that train. Too dangerous with far too much unprotected rail line between here and Nevada through the desert.

Who's he trying to kid? He needs it so it will bring more money from people who should know better into the casinos where the money can be legally stolen from them!

Oscar Goodman is a pompous @$$, but he is right about the necessity of alleviating traffic along I-15. The problem is, this project won't contribute to that until such time that the entire $9 billion, 269 mile route is complete to Anaheim/LA. Until then, it's merely a tourist shuttle from some remote casinos to the main concentration of casinos here in Las Vegas. If people have traveled 229 miles along I-15 to get to Primm, they might as well continue another 40 to get to Vegas.

That's another reason for pursuing the Pittsburgh or Baltimore/D.C. projects: future service to population centers along the route. Pittsburgh, for instance, is envisioned to eventually expand 300 miles across Pennsylvania to Philadelphia. Along the route, it would gain ridership by providing service to other smaller cities: Greensburg, Johnstown, Harrisburg, Hershey, etc etc. perhaps.

What smaller cities exist between Anaheim and Las Vegas? Not much after you escape the Greater LA area, just a whole lotta nothing. And a couple casinos on the CA/NV border.

Yummy, one easy terrorist target I bet.

No more so than any other part of our transportation infrastructure: bridges, highways, tunnels, subways, etc. etc.

But since you consider such prospects to be "yummy", perhaps Tom Ridge's Homeland Security guys should check you out.

I hadn't heard of this, but both sound like good ideas. There definitely is a need for a high speed fixed rail link of some sort between the LA/Orange County area and Las Vegas. I think it would be economically feasible and do a lot for both areas.

http://www.freerepublic.com/perl/bump-list

There definitely is a need for a high speed fixed rail link of some sort between the LA/Orange County area and Las Vegas. I think it would be economically feasible and do a lot for both areas.

I certainly agree and would like to see implementation of HSGT accelerated nationwide -- at least in those densely populated regions that merit it.

As far as LV/LA goes, I could go with either technology: high-speed rail is suitable and less expensive. Maglev is more expensive, but faster.

My big gripe is that the LV~Primm segment is unsuitable as the initial nationwide prototype for Maglev. Whether Pittsburgh, or Baltimore/DC, or (now) LV/Primm is designated, the federal ante is $950 million, and the balance of the financing is state/local/private. Don Young's "concern" about the economics is disingenuous, the federal ante will remain $950 million no matter where it goes. As a matter of priority, the taxpayers should demand that the project be built where the terrain/climate and existing population place the greatest demands on the technology, to prove its capabilities. Don Young's preference for LV/Prim can only be viewed as an attempt to postpone and sidetrack/marginalize that proof.

Bring Maglev to New York NOW!