FEDERAL RAILROAD ADMINISTRATION : PASSENGER RAIL

Maglev Deployment Program

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: A 87 kilometer (54-mile), five station project linking Pittsburgh Airport to Pittsburgh and its eastern suburbs. The project has been under study since 1990 and has two objectives. One is to demonstrate the first high-speed maglev project in the U.S. The other is to establish the precision fabrication technology to implement maglev technology anywhere in the U.S. The rugged physical terrain, a full four season climate, and stops at an airport, downtown and in the suburbs would demonstrate the full potential of maglev technology to provide service in a variety of environments. The project is intended to be the first stage of a system that would eventually provide high-speed intercity service to Cleveland on the west and Philadelphia on the east. The project was estimated to cost $3.8 billion in 2003, with a 28 kilometer (17-mile) initial operating segment between the airport and downtown estimated to cost $1.6 billion (2003).

Baltimore, Maryland to Washington, DC: A 63 kilometer (39-mile) project linking Camden Yard in Baltimore (a sports complex and center for recreation and tourism) and Baltimore-Washington International (BWI) Airport to Union Station in Washington, D.C. This project has been under study since 1994. The draft EIS indicates the project would serve 27,000 trips per day, even with continued Amtrak service in the corridor. It would provide residents and visitors to Washington DC with a second airport only 15 minutes from Union Station and take some of the pressure off Reagan National Airport. The project is visualized as the initial stage of a high-speed maglev system that would serve the entire Northeast Corridor between Boston and Charlotte, NC. The capital cost of the project was estimated to be $3.7 billion in 2003, which has risen to $5.1 billion in 2007.

To read descriptions of the two selected projects, both of which are based on application of the Transrapid maglev technology, see their two websites at the Baltimore-Washington Maglev project and Pennsylvania High-Speed Maglev project.

In addition, Congress has authorized further planning for a project between Las Vegas, Nevada and Anaheim, California using the Transrapid maglev technology.