View Full Version : Magnetic hover train between LA and LV gets a boost
Taco John
06-06-2008, 06:03 PM
Levitating train from L.A. to Las Vegas gets boost
Jun 6 05:54 PM US/Eastern
WASHINGTON (AP) - Plans for a levitating train from Las Vegas to Disneyland can move forward under a transportation bill signed by President Bush on Friday that frees up $45 million for the futuristic project.
Derided by critics as pie in the sky, the train would use magnetic levitation technology to carry passengers from Disneyland to Las Vegas in well under two hours, traveling at speeds of up to 300 mph. It would be the first MagLev system in the U.S.
The money is the largest cash infusion in the project's nearly 20-year history. It will pay for environmental studies for the first leg of the project.
The money had been delayed by a drafting error in Congress' 2005 highway bill, which was corrected along with some other changes by the legislation signed Friday by Bush. The delay had allowed a competing and cheaper diesel-electric plan to emerge as an alternative, but with the money now freed up supporters hope to move forward with the MagLev plan.
The train is meant to ease traffic on increasingly clogged Interstate 15, the main route for the millions of Southern Californians who make the 250-plus-mile drive to Las Vegas each year. There is no train on the route—Amtrak's Desert Wind between Los Angeles and Las Vegas was canceled in 1997 because of low ridership.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., praised passage of the law, saying the MagLev project "will safely and efficiently move people between Southern California and Las Vegas."
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D914R5LG1&show_article=1
Taco John
06-06-2008, 06:04 PM
Imagine the kind of football tips you can get on a train like that.
Dukes
06-06-2008, 06:21 PM
The train is meant to ease traffic on increasingly clogged Interstate 15, the main route for the millions of Southern Californians who make the 250-plus-mile drive to Las Vegas each year. http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D914R5LG1&show_article=1
Each year? Pfft, I made that trip at least four times a year when I lived in SoCal.
The train would be a great idea, not only in eleviating traffic, but getting to Vegas and back much quicker.
Ambiguous
06-06-2008, 06:28 PM
Each year? Pfft, I made that trip at least four times a year when I lived in SoCal.
The train would be a great idea, not only in eleviating traffic, but getting to Vegas and back much quicker.
I've gone three times already since the beginning of the year, and the 15 is a freaking nightmare.
Coming back from Vegas took me 10 hours last time i left on a Sunday. Not to mention the perpetual malaise that has been going on in Riverside on the 215 since god knows when.
bombquixote
06-06-2008, 10:41 PM
From Las Vegas to Disneyland?! This country should have been braided with maglev trains decades ago...for travel and commuting. Freakin Disneyland?!
rugbythug
06-06-2008, 11:09 PM
Why in the Hell do we need 45 million for enviornmental impact studies in that area.
Meck77
06-06-2008, 11:28 PM
Environmental Impact Study is code for "how much property does the government need to take from people".
Ironically enough they were considering shutting down some of NEW light rail lines in Denver already because of lack of riders.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/jun/05/rtd-reverses-course-g-line/
rugbythug
06-06-2008, 11:30 PM
Environmental Impact Study is code for "how much property does the government need to take from people".
Ironically enough they were considering shutting down some of NEW light rail lines in Denver already because of lack of riders.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/news/2008/jun/05/rtd-reverses-course-g-line/
They are just nonsense many times especially in some areas.
Sodak
06-06-2008, 11:37 PM
Can you imagine what would happen to a deer if it wandered onto the tracks of an oncomming Maglev at 300 MPH?
Meck77
06-06-2008, 11:41 PM
Can you imagine what would happen to a deer if it wandered onto the tracks of an oncomming Maglev at 300 MPH?
Maybe something like Okoye getting knocked out by Atwater?
Sodak
06-06-2008, 11:47 PM
Maybe something like Okoye getting knocked out by Atwater?
Ooooohhhh! I was just thinking it would get splattered a little. LOL
CHANGSTER
06-06-2008, 11:58 PM
Sounds nice, though it only took about 5 hours each way when I went last week. Don't know if it would be worth the trouble to trim an hour or 2.
Dukes
06-07-2008, 12:21 AM
Sounds nice, though it only took about 5 hours each way when I went last week. Don't know if it would be worth the trouble to trim an hour or 2.
It takes that long when you leave early or late enough. A friend of mine and I left San Diego at 4pm one time. Took us 11 hours. Every time after that I left before 1pm or I didn't go at all
Arkie
06-07-2008, 12:25 AM
When's it coming to Arkansas?
Dukes
06-07-2008, 12:29 AM
When there is a reason to go to Arkansas
cutthemdown
06-07-2008, 12:48 AM
cool maglev technology is very effecient and safe. Seems like it would cost a lot more then 47 million though. Also how long before they start building?
Meck77
06-07-2008, 12:51 AM
That's just the environmental study. The project will be in the billions. Easy. Denver's fast tracks project is going over budget hundreds of millions of dollar per year at it's current pace. It will easily be 4 Billion dollars over budget when the new revised figures come out pretty soon.
TallyBronco
06-07-2008, 12:51 AM
Like nearly all commuter trains, big promises and little results. But people have a warm heart for trains, so forget effectiveness.
BroncosinDC
06-07-2008, 04:24 AM
Trains work on the East Coast where DC, Baltimore, NYC, Boston, Philly, etc are close. The West is just to big.
Rausch 2.0
06-07-2008, 04:28 AM
Like nearly all commuter trains, big promises and little results. But people have a warm heart for trains, so forget effectiveness.
...
Trains work on the East Coast where DC, Baltimore, NYC, Boston, Philly, etc are close. The West is just to big.
Passenger trains (Amtrac) suck in the Midwest.
We need to quit bailing them out. It's over $350 difference to fly instead of riding a train from St. Louis to Atlanta. $350+ CHEAPER TO FLY!
Just think about that. I can drive my ****ing self for 1/4 of that!
Why?
Why would I travel train?...
400HZ
06-07-2008, 05:27 AM
I've gone three times already since the beginning of the year, and the 15 is a freaking nightmare.
Coming back from Vegas took me 10 hours last time i left on a Sunday. Not to mention the perpetual malaise that has been going on in Riverside on the 215 since god knows when.
http://www1.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/186129/2/istockphoto_186129_suicidal_tendencies.jpg
It's taken me 12 hours before to drive from North County San Diego. Also, you don't get the best fuel efficiency when you have to stop and go every 15 feet. If they do the hover train right with enough dining cars and everything, I'd happily shell out $100+ for a ticket to avoid the I-15 cluster****.
broncocalijohn
06-07-2008, 05:28 AM
When's it coming to Arkansas?
As soon as that roof is put up, then we will think about it.
broncocalijohn
06-07-2008, 05:30 AM
This would be great for us in SoCal. Changster is correct on bad timing. I could go to vegas in the morning and come back at night and never tell my wife that i went. Perfect plan!
cutthemdown
06-07-2008, 11:23 AM
That's just the environmental study. The project will be in the billions. Easy. Denver's fast tracks project is going over budget hundreds of millions of dollar per year at it's current pace. It will easily be 4 Billion dollars over budget when the new revised figures come out pretty soon.
ok that makes sense because I remember hearing a plan for a calif high speed rail from SD to San Fran via LA was talked about and planned and I remember the amount of 15 billion being mentioned but i don't think that was even a full amount it would cost.
Still it makes sense to build them as long as we determine we can use them well into the future. We have to make high speed rails, maglevs, because jets are too inneffecient.
I'm really interested in trains right now and have followed Buffett into investing in them.
cutthemdown
06-07-2008, 11:24 AM
I hate envirmonmental impact studies. WHat they really are is a way for the environmentalist to block everything that is progress.
I am sure the environmental impact analysis will discover a spotted, wooley, genre of bug that only survives in the desert between LV and LA.
They will want another $100M to assess whether anymore similar bugs exist in any other desert envions and whether the poor LALV bug (as it will become to be known can be moved safely.
I expect the train will become a reality in year 2250. 'Bout the same time LA gets a football team and the Chiefs have a shot at the playoffs again.
cutthemdown
06-07-2008, 01:10 PM
Either that are they will say it ruins the fragile desert ecosystem. This particular terrian took 1000's of yrs to look like it does today. If you build a train on it it won't look like that anymore.
broncocalijohn
06-07-2008, 01:56 PM
Either that are they will say it ruins the fragile desert ecosystem. This particular terrian took 1000's of yrs to look like it does today. If you build a train on it it won't look like that anymore.
They built Barstow in the middle of it. If they can ruin it once, they can do it again! Have you seen the crap that is on the 15?
Bronco_Beerslug
06-07-2008, 01:58 PM
I am sure the environmental impact analysis will discover a spotted, wooley, genre of bug that only survives in the desert between LV and LA.
They will want another $100M to assess whether anymore similar bugs exist in any other desert envions and whether the poor LALV bug (as it will become to be known can be moved safely.
I expect the train will become a reality in year 2250. 'Bout the same time LA gets a football team and the Chiefs have a shot at the playoffs again.Hey, it's a worm sighting, just wondering what you wanna do about your end of last years Rod Smith wager. :welcome:
R8R H8R
06-07-2008, 02:28 PM
That's just the environmental study. The project will be in the billions. Easy. Denver's fast tracks project is going over budget hundreds of millions of dollar per year at it's current pace. It will easily be 4 Billion dollars over budget when the new revised figures come out pretty soon.
Yes, I agree, it will be in the billions, easy. And whatever, the initial cost projections are, just double or triple it to be more accurate.
I live in So. Cal. and have been against this project since the beginning. Why? because every project proposal I have read always had the taxpayer footing most of the bill. However, it is Vegas that gets most of the benefit from this rail.
I say if Vegas wants it so bad ( and they do), then let them pay for it. It is my understanding that the bulk of the Alaskan pipeline was financed jointly by oil companies. Therefore, let the casinos pay for the high speed rail.
...
Passenger trains (Amtrac) suck in the Midwest.
We need to quit bailing them out. It's over $350 difference to fly instead of riding a train from St. Louis to Atlanta. $350+ CHEAPER TO FLY!
Just think about that. I can drive my ****ing self for 1/4 of that!
Why?
Why would I travel train?...
Kind of a horrible catch 22, trains could cost a lot less if ridership was up, but ridership can't go up because its too expensive.
I hate envirmonmental impact studies. WHat they really are is a way for the environmentalist to block everything that is progress.
Environmental studies have their merits, just as long as its held within reason. For example, if this MagLev line would dramatically impact all land within say, 25 miles of its route then yeah, that would be an issue. But an equally important part of the study is making sure that the terrain itself is capable of supporting such a high speed train powered by magnets.
Its the double edged sword of environmental policy. We don't want to build a train only to find out that the magnetic forces caused a sink hole to develop in the middle of the desert, killing hundreds and costing millions, but at the same time we don't want to spent 50 years screwing around because some sage brush and tics are going to die in the name of progress.
Sounds like a pretty good idea, something like this would be invaluable connecting Boston and New York. In my opinion THIS is the kind of thing the U.S. gov't. should be stepping in to regulate the pricing of. You install this system between New York and Boston, running both ways, and charge basically the same as what people would pay in gas while saving them half the time and you wouldn't be able to fit all the people on board who wanted to go every trip. But instead it is so often left in the hands of private enterprise and we've seen the kind of business "acumen" possessed of Amtrak's staff, or the major air lines for that matter. No free market form of mass transport has really worked out, its about time we gave up.
Jason in LA
06-07-2008, 10:53 PM
So, I could go from Disneyland to Vegas faster than I could go from LA to Disneyland? Count me in.
Once I left for Vegas at 5pm on a Friday. It was a last minute thing. Pretty stupid. Took 6 hours. The next time I went to Vegas I left at 4 am. I was driving a '96 Mustang GT. Got there in 3 hours.
Always leave early in the morning, coming or going.
Hey, it's a worm sighting, just wondering what you wanna do about your end of last years Rod Smith wager. :welcome:
Hey Slug!
I am still in denial over Mr Bronco, Rod Smith not playing anymore. ;D
You won.
PM me with an address and I can send you a sixer of your choice. OR pick a store near you that will let me phone in an order. OR tell me when you are in Cali, Northern Idaho or New Orleans and I will buy you drinks in a bar til you are comatose.
Any preference?
How could you bet against Rod anyway?!? My hypothesis is that is why the Broncs have been having such ****ty luck lately. You are at fault.
thumpc
06-08-2008, 02:22 AM
Casinos could pay for it by making the trains an extension of themselves. Open up slots, blackjack and poker games as soon as they cross state lines.
LordHelmchen
06-08-2008, 03:17 AM
To give you a very rough ballpark figure concerning the costs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transrapid
They cancelled a 25 mile track from Munich to Munich Airport cause the costs had risen from 1.85 to over 3 billion Euros. And that was only for the track more or less as the technology was already completely developed (Transrapids are operating in Shanghai since 2004).
Now look at the much larger track distance and add in all the R&D costs .. this is going to be a ****load of money…
To give you a very rough ballpark figure concerning the costs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transrapid
They cancelled a 25 mile track from Munich to Munich Airport cause the costs had risen from 1.85 to over 3 billion Euros. And that was only for the track more or less as the technology was already completely developed (Transrapids are operating in Shanghai since 2004).
Now look at the much larger track distance and add in all the R&D costs .. this is going to be a ****load of money…
I wonder how many people had land that was taken from them via some sort of ED in Germany for this project.
Was FMV of needed land factored into the cost of the project?
A Boston to New York one would be SWEET. Much more useful than a Vegas one.
LordHelmchen
06-08-2008, 04:28 AM
I wonder how many people had land that was taken from them via some sort of ED in Germany for this project.
Was FMV of needed land factored into the cost of the project?
A Boston to New York one would be SWEET. Much more useful than a Vegas one.
No land was taken or planned to be taken. We have no ED like in Common Law. The gov has the possibility to seize land against compensation but it's more difficult for them than in the US I think.
Take Meck's example, if I recall correctly they wanted to take his whole property even though they needed only a little part of it. Here that would be against the law. Additionaly the land would have to be returned to him once it was no longer needed.
The land was owned by the state of Bavaria already. I think costs for additional noise protection etc were higher than expected as they had about 25 thousand complaints from land owners and municipalities.
elsid13
06-08-2008, 06:44 AM
Kind of a horrible catch 22, trains could cost a lot less if ridership was up, but ridership can't go up because its too expensive.
Environmental studies have their merits, just as long as its held within reason. For example, if this MagLev line would dramatically impact all land within say, 25 miles of its route then yeah, that would be an issue. But an equally important part of the study is making sure that the terrain itself is capable of supporting such a high speed train powered by magnets.
Its the double edged sword of environmental policy. We don't want to build a train only to find out that the magnetic forces caused a sink hole to develop in the middle of the desert, killing hundreds and costing millions, but at the same time we don't want to spent 50 years screwing around because some sage brush and tics are going to die in the name of progress.
Sounds like a pretty good idea, something like this would be invaluable connecting Boston and New York. In my opinion THIS is the kind of thing the U.S. gov't. should be stepping in to regulate the pricing of. You install this system between New York and Boston, running both ways, and charge basically the same as what people would pay in gas while saving them half the time and you wouldn't be able to fit all the people on board who wanted to go every trip. But instead it is so often left in the hands of private enterprise and we've seen the kind of business "acumen" possessed of Amtrak's staff, or the major air lines for that matter. No free market form of mass transport has really worked out, its about time we gave up.
There is current talk of linking DC to NYC (2 Hours) and NYC to Boston (1 hour 45) via either Mag Lift or NG High speed train. I amazed that we haven
t moveed in that direction in NE corridor yet
Spider
06-08-2008, 10:02 AM
Get you weekend wanna be big rollers off the roads .... I might start going back to LA... PS I hope you clowns gamble better then you drive
jutang
06-08-2008, 11:52 AM
With I-15 being so congested and flying becoming as equally unpleasant, the train might not be that bad of an idea. It definitely be a safer option than driving and with gas prices may actually be cheaper.
That One Guy
06-08-2008, 12:45 PM
Does anyone know the reason Amtrak couldn't survive or was it just the high prices someone already mentioned? It seems like there'd have to be a market if the traffic is that bad but there's some reason they didn't work the first time.
thumpc
06-08-2008, 04:05 PM
Yeah, why is that? Why can't we put our cars on a train like a ferry and sleep comfortably on another car while we are whisked to the other side of the country?
Spider
06-08-2008, 04:12 PM
Yeah, why is that? Why can't we put our cars on a train like a ferry and sleep comfortably on another car while we are whisked to the other side of the country?
why in the hell would you do that ?
then you have to conform to someone elses schedule , might as well ride rail get a rental car
how much did/is The Big Dig costing?
broncocalijohn
06-09-2008, 06:39 PM
Casinos could pay for it by making the trains an extension of themselves. Open up slots, blackjack and poker games as soon as they cross state lines.
If California was smart (Like a honest lawyer), they would allow casinos on the California side within 1/2 mile from the state line. This way the train could stop there, people gamble and if they want to continue onto Vegas, they get onto a different train on the Vegas side of the border. THis way, us Californians will pay some $ while in our own state and not let Nevada take it all. At least driving the 250 or so miles gets businesses on the 15 freeway route some extra dough. With the train, no need to stop in Baker and have some food at Bun Boy.
BroncosinDC
06-09-2008, 06:51 PM
how much did/is The Big Dig costing?
In excess of $15 billion.
TallyBronco
06-10-2008, 12:26 AM
To give you a very rough ballpark figure concerning the costs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transrapid
They cancelled a 25 mile track from Munich to Munich Airport cause the costs had risen from 1.85 to over 3 billion Euros. And that was only for the track more or less as the technology was already completely developed (Transrapids are operating in Shanghai since 2004).
Now look at the much larger track distance and add in all the R&D costs .. this is going to be a ****load of money…
Bingo. The people who push these projects are bold-faced liars. You can triple whatever estimate they give and still fall short of the actual costs.
The people who really get screwed are the tax payers who end up subsidizing empty computer trains that while businesses and unions pocket the change. Another road to nowhere.