Will a northeast maglev ever be built? The Maryland governor likes the idea but comments are largely negative.
http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2015/06/08maglevmaryland
Mr Haddad seems to be well qualified. Central Japan Railway is constructing a line from Tokyo to Nagoya, which is projected to be operational in 2027. As I recall, Japan has $5 billion to help make the northeast maglev a reality. What will probably be the alignment, if further investment is approved, and how would this affect Amtrak and others? 311 mph is really fast.
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nazih-haddad-joins-the-northeast-maglev-as-executive-vice-president-300019977.html
As has been pointed out elsewhere, land acquisition is going to be a major obstacle. Maglev is everybody's darling because it looks futuristic and has a lot of the "gee-whiz" aura found in the pages of "Popular Science".
How well will it work where it can be covered in snow and ice?
Or when someone throws a beer can on it.
_____________
"A stranger's just a friend you ain't met yet." --- Dave Gardner
After this demonstration projects fails and is put out of it's misery (soon after all concern parties have milked it dry for their pay-offs and/or golden parachutes), it probably go the way of the first commerical Mag-Lev project in Birmingham, UK and be replaced with...CABLE CARS (seriously).
At present it is 41 Amtrak miles from Baltimore to WASH. Acela non-stop northbound is 30 minutes and 40 southbound ( schedule padding ). The Mag lev route would probably go to another station location in Baltiimore ( shorter miles ) and maybe even WASH. Would these new stations even connect with WASH Metro or Baltimore MTA transit ? IMHO that alone is a non starter for project. You need the connecting passengers.
Have never seen a comparsion of the electric costs for maglev and regular HSR per seat mile
Mag lev probably would not be able to go quicker than 12 - 15 minutes ? If instead of maglev if NEC Wash - BAL was upgraded to 160 MPH we could expect time to be about 18 - 20 minutes including slowing and aceleration. 6 - 8 minutes time difference hardly noticeable.
Instead take the money to buy land and straighten BAL - WASH for 160 MPH operation. Spend some of the other money to upgrade MARC and have a wad left over. A lot of less real estate needed. Even so that real estate will cost plenty. Utility moves for any separate ROW will be enormous.
+ EIS much more costly and time delaying.
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.