D.C. to Balto Maglev

[Gramp]

How could the Pennsy/B&O routes be transformed with the money that would be spent on this maglev project?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/federal-panel-sows-doubts-about-high-speed-d-c-to-baltimore-maglev-train/ar-BB1gtZ1V?ocid=msedgdhp

 

[Overmod]

I read the story and the first thing that came to mind was "Chicago-New York Electric Air Line".  Washington to New York in an hour, for ... let's extrapolate the cost from the given, what is it, 13-odd billion?

Not that I wouldn't like to see it built, but it makes the Concorde look downright profitable by comparison.  And if there is great utility beyond accessing BWIA ... for example, high-speed one-seat service to Wilmington ... it would involve much longer construction through difficult, and now often inhabited, areas to reach the logical next stops.  Consider the present gap between SEPTA and MARC service, for which Amtrak now charges full premium.  Closing this service gap, perhaps with a Delaware transit agency, would be far more meaningful to far more people than building a line to the Baltimore airport for the very well heeled...

Keep in mind that for quite some time the corresponding Baltimore-Washington stretch of the Penn Line has seen regular peak speeds in excess of 114mph... on the commuter trains.  A fourth track here would be a tremendous advantage, but would also involve relatively tremendous cost, especially since much of the existing infrastructure would need to be rebuilt or replaced under traffic.  Since we see Amtrak priority projects to widen strategic portions of the three-track route north of Baltimore in the list of funding, doing this section instead of a whole new maglev demo might represent far better 'bang for the buck' with only marginally longer trip time.

[BaltACD]

Lets see the tranportation alternatives that already exist between Baltimore and Washington.

Amtrak/MARC
B&O/MARC
US 1 - normal highway 4-6-8 lanes in places
MD 295 - Restricted Acces 4 & 6 lanes
I-95 - Restricted Access 8 lanes

The route has no transportation alternatives[/sarcasm]

[matthewsaggie]

Also US-29.

[aegrotatio]

Speaking for myself and my family who love riding the train, even Acela is offensively expensive.

We don't need high-speed rail in the US.  We need more frequent and reliable conventional rail.  The twenty minutes or fewer that we save taking Acela WAS-NYP is a rounding error in our travel plans, always eliminated by the delays of layovers and transferring to other modes of travel. We just don't care about high-speed rail and I'd take that bet that others don't care, either.

 

[Paul of Covington]

aegrotatio

We don't need high-speed rail in the US.  We need more frequent and reliable conventional rail. 

   Amen to that.  The key is "frequent".  Rather than build some super expensive new system, use what we have, upgrade it as needed and run more trains.  When the service is frequent enough to be convenient, when you don't have to plan your whole trip to fit the train schedule but just show up at any time and have a short wait for your train, it will be much more attractive and useful, and more people will use it.

[daveklepper]

Absolutely correct

[charlie hebdo]

Perhaps true hi speed is not necessary yet,  except in very densely populated,  under 300 mile corridors. But higher speeds are needed than a top speed 79, overall speeds under 50 That won't cut it.  Waste of money to keep expecting 1950s transport services to be competitive 70 years later. 

[Jim200]

I think that we all want a better Amtrak,and it looks like they will get a bunch of money for improvements. However, we also need to invest time and money into new technologies. The Hyperloop excitement showed that our universities are producing engineers capable of designing and building these new technologies. However, our government has not supported the Hyperloop and the private sector is struggling to build, mostly with help from foreign countries and companies. 

The Baltimore to Washington superconducting maglev is in some respects similar to the Virgin Hyperloop which is to be built in Abu Dhabi and elsewhere. Both are using magnetic levitation, but of different technology. The Japanese SCMAGLEV uses a U-shaped concrete guideway, which if covered over, could be turned into an evacuated Hyperloop. It should be noted that ELon Musk’s original Hyperloop did not use maglev, but an aerodynamic skate, which may be a dead end or future tech. Prior incarnations however, did use maglev.

Although it has taken too much time to get to this point of building the Baltimore to Washington maglev, it will be nice to travel at 311 mph in the future.

The Draft Evironmental Impact Statement is below with more info. The FRA won’t let me copy the link, so follow “DEIS" under “project documents”. 

 https://www.bwmaglev.info/index.php/component/jdownloads/?task=download.send&id=5&catid=3&m=0&Itemid=101

[Overmod]

See if this link produces better results.

If anyone has trouble accessing the information, you can apparently have it sent to you by e-mailing [e-mail]