Comments on: Competitors for High-Speed Rail Grants

By: Laurence E. Blow

Laurence E. Blow — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 17:16:29 +0000

Seems unlikely the DesertXpress project will be vying for the stimulus money…their Web site says, “As a “for-profit” private passenger railroad, DesertXpress presents an opportunity for the private sector to demonstrate its ability to implement needed transportation without federal or state funding. Revenues from fares and advertising make the project financially feasible without public funds.”

By: Brian Bundridge

Brian Bundridge — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 16:02:00 +0000

The LA – Las Vegas HSR isn’t for Maglev but the DesertXpress.

http://www.desertxpress.com

$3.5-3.8 billion for a run between Victorville, CA and Las Vegas on a dedicated double track high speed rail line. Would do the run from Victorville to Vegas in 1 hour and 30 minutes with a top speed of 150mph. There would be a potential to run the line into LA and San Berndo if funding could come up. For some odd reason though, there isn’t a stop in Barstow.

By: slidingshoe

slidingshoe — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 13:01:39 +0000

Not to push the UK angle too hard but I’d love to see the federal money go into dedicated ROW (built for higher speeds, say 150mph) in key medium-sized urban areas. Funding the trainsets would be ideally a part-privatized solution.

By: Mike Skehan

Mike Skehan — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 12:15:50 +0000

I think Politica needs to do their homework when they characterize the Cascade HSR project as “Very limited planning thus far..”
Fact is, Washington and Oregon have been planning and building towards HSR for nearly two decades, in spite of the last administrations best efforts to let Amtrak wither and die for lack of support.
The Cascade corridor has an adopted plan, complete with numerous studies of cost and benefits over a wide range of scenerios.

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/NR/rdonlyres/83B17378-CDC8-4D57-AA60-4CD64BAF6D94/0/AmtrakCascadesMidRangePlan.pdf

Sources at WSDOT tell me they will apply for several hundred million dollars of the stimulus funding, which would go a very long way to completing option 3 of the Cascade Corridor Mid Range Plan.

As Washington and Oregon State have been on the front lines of HSR since day one, and put their money where their mouth is, we are in very good position to capture nearly 1/2 Billion (no match $$) to increase the corridor ridership by double in just a few years, increase on-time performance from 65% to 97%, increase trains by 50%, increase speeds to 110 mph on certain segments, reduce carbon emissions from autos and planes, and increase fuel efficiency for riders choosing the train.

Some will argue the virtues of maglev, or other 200+ mph technologies, but we have a plan, it’s a work in progress, and is only lacking funding. Here’s our chance to make it happen… now, not decades from now.

A wise old transit planner once told me “a bus at the stop is worth two on the schedule”. Likewise, a good plan in place is worth several pipe dreams of maglev.

By: Art Lewellan

Art Lewellan — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 22:51:17 +0000

Talgo trainsets with the right locomotive can achieve 135mph. 150mph is possible with computerized tilt-suspension coaches like Acela. Specially-made diesel/electric locomotives reach these speeds. I’m sure the LA-LV line wouldn’t exceed 80mph which is a legal limit and determined by track conditions. There is such a thing as overkill. Maglev and electrified 200+mph trains are overkill.

By: Alon Levy

Alon Levy — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 22:34:51 +0000

What speed did the Talgo trainsets run from LA to LV at?

By: Art Lewellan

Art Lewellan — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 02:54:52 +0000

Amtrak Cascades Talgo high-speed trainsets ran on the Los Angeles — Las Vegas route for years and only stopped running recently. These type trains could be returned to service with track upgrades and continue north to Salt Lake City passing Utah’s Zion and other national parks.

The Amtrak Pioneer from Portland to Salt Lake City hasn’t been a high-speed corridor but it could run these type trainsets with track upgrades. Amtrak’s California Zephyr leaves the Bay Area and arrives in Salt Lake City at 3:am. A 2nd train on the Zephyr would arrive in SLC at a more civilized hour. This is a lot of investment in practical rail lines.

Maglev is indeed a pipedream that will not find practical implementation anywhere. The claim that ignoring Maglev will make the US as a 2nd class industrial status is nonsense.

By: Alon Levy

Alon Levy — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 06:23:35 +0000

Electrifying to Richmond is a pretty good use of money, especially if accompanied by track straightening. It’s essentially a first phase for SEHSR, in the sense that it reduces DC-to-North Carolina run time. It doesn’t really matter if the reduction is achieved by converting one section to HSR or slightly increasing speeds on the entire line.

By: Laurence E. Blow

Laurence E. Blow — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 22:59:09 +0000

I agree with the sentiment that If the U.S. doesn’t soon invest in and deploy maglev, it will be ensuring its eventual second-class status as an industrial power.

Having said that, the status of the Pittsburgh maglev project as being ready to take a healthy slice of the stimulus money is subject to interpretation. The Las Vegas and Baltimore-Washington projects have been working for 25 years and 19 years, respectively, to advance maglev for their corridors. The vetting of the Pittsburgh route in public meetings has resulted in severe alignment changes, such that the project has the slowest average travel speeds of any maglev project in the country. Other U.S. maglev projects are avoiding the Maglev Inc.-style sophisticated steel beams and are choosing to develop modular steel and hybrid steel-concrete beams instead, as are the Chinese clients and the German suppliers.

I’d be shocked to see any maglev project — even the famous Las Vegas – Anaheim line — get a healthy slice of the stimulus money, given the competition from “incremental high-speed rail” projects such as five of the entries on the original list.

The real positive aspects of the Pittsburgh project are its hilly terrain — which helps lead to twisty alignments even more so than public complaints — and its potential for severe winter weather. These factors have yet to be investigated in operational service to date, either in Germany or China.

By: Herbf

Herbf — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 20:59:51 +0000

I suspect many with a modest interest in this subject will be shocked when a healthy slice of the high-speed dollars ends up going to the Pittsburgh maglev project. They’ve been working on it for at least 15 years. They have a route that’s been thoroughly vetted (no small achievement), they’ve done the environmental and engineering work, refined the German Transrapid maglev technology for American requirements and are far closer to actually closing the deal than any other maglev proposal in the country. Pittsburgh’s Maglev, Inc., which prefers to work out of the limelight, has had a Navy contract for some time to develop the extremely sophisticated technology required to make the guideways on which the maglev trains run. It also offers college-level courses in the technology. Many people who have only the most rudimentary understanding of maglev dismiss it out of hand, as a boondoggle. In fact, this is the future of transportation. The Chinese know that, as do the Japanese. The Germans, which have the most advanced maglev technology in the world, have effectively thrown in the towel and are selling it to China. If the U.S. doesn’t soon invest in and deploy maglev, it will be ensuring its eventual second-class status as an industrial power.