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Maglev trains: Back to the future for Maryland?


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#1 CNJRoss

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Posted 04 September 2014 - 01:05 PM

AP via WTOP radio, 9/4:

$5B committed for Baltimore-DC high-speed train

BALTIMORE (AP) -- A company has proposed building a high-speed train that could go from Baltimore to Washington in about 15 minutes.

Washington Rapid Rail LLC submitted an application to the Maryland Public Service Commission on Wednesday.

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#2 CNJRoss

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Posted 04 September 2014 - 01:08 PM

Technical.ly/Baltimore, 9/4:

Japan offers $5 billion to fund Baltimore-DC maglev train

Japanese carrier JR Central is angling to build the long-proposed project, which could connect the two cities with a 15-minute trip.




Backers of a long-dreamed-of high-speed rail connection between Baltimore and Washington are claiming a massive new investment to help make it happen — $5 billion from the Japanese government, the Baltimore Sun reports.

It’s not an entirely magnanimous gesture, however.

The hope is that, ultimately, American officials will tap a Japanese company to build and operate the railway, which could complete in 15 minutes a trip that takes the fastest Amtrak train 40.

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#3 CNJRoss

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Posted 04 September 2014 - 01:15 PM

The Baltimore Sun, 9/4:

Backers of high-speed 'maglev' train to Washington claim $5 billion in funding

Company asks state regulators for old WBA railroad rights, outlines Japanese support



An investor group hoping to build a high-speed train capable of cutting the travel time between Baltimore and Washington to 15 minutes says in a filing to state regulators that it has lined up more than $5 billion in financial backing.

The commitment is from the Japanese government, which hopes to showcase the technology behind superconducting magnetic levitation or "maglev" trains to an American audience, the company behind the proposal wrote to the Maryland Public Service Commission on Wednesday.

Such trains are capable of extreme speeds, thanks to their frictionless, magnetically-controlled motion above their tracks. The technology has been approved in Japan and is to be rolled out next month on an initial stretch of track that planners hope will eventually connect Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka.

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#4 Sloan

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Posted 04 September 2014 - 05:19 PM

Too bad plans don't call for serving Annapolis. There is a strong need for rail transit on the congested corridor between Baltimore and Maryland's Capitol city. In fact Maryland MTA's light rail line follows the former Washington Baltimore & Annapolis right of way to southern terminal in Glen Burnie. There were plans to extend the line to Annapolis, but they faded due to benign neglect. The interurban was a snappy operation, but financial pressure from the Great Depression almost drove it to abandonment. Bondholders in 1935 rushed to protect their investment and took over the line. They changed the name to Baltimore & Annapolis Railroad and ended service to DC. There were two routes into Annapolis; the main route ran into center city, a branch line terminated in front of Bancroft Hall at the U . S. Naval Academy. Service ended on the latter in 1941. Passenger service switched to bus in 1950 and diesels took over freight service. Sloan

#5 CNJRoss

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Posted 06 June 2015 - 05:04 AM

WTOP radio, 6/5:

 

Maglev trains: Back to the future for Maryland?

 

WASHINGTON — Some Marylanders may feel a sense of deja vu as Gov. Larry Hogan enthuses over maglev trains.

 

Hogan seeks a $28 million grant to explore bringing the high-speed trains to Maryland after taking a trip on a test track in Japan. But this isn’t the first time the trains that use magnets to propel trains along guideways at speeds of more than 300 mph has wowed Maryland lawmakers and transportation officials.

 

Speed along here to see the past.



#6 CNJRoss

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Posted 06 June 2015 - 05:07 AM

WTOP radio, 6/5:
 

Maryland governor gets ‘training’ abroad

 

WASHINGTON – Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is a long way from home with a familiar topic in front of him — train transportation.

 

Winding down his trip to Asia, Hogan has zipped around by train in Japan, known as the rail envy of the world.

 

On Thursday, he cruised on a maglev (magnetic levitation) train, which doesn’t break a sweat bursting through 300 miles per hour.

 

He even called it “the future of transportation,” as it may be an option connecting Washington and Baltimore.

 

While high-speed train travel may be a long term goal at home, his more pressing decision upon returning concerns the Purple Line.

 

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#7 CNJRoss

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Posted 08 June 2015 - 01:27 PM

The Washington Post, 6/8:
 

In Japan, Md. governor is wowed by super-fast trains — with big price tags

 

TSURU, Japan — Imagine getting from Baltimore to Washington in less than 15 minutes. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan certainly did Thursday when he hurtled through the Japanese countryside at 314 mph.

 

Hogan wants Maryland to get these “maglev” trains — short for magnetic levitation — and Japan wants to sell them.

 

“There is no question that this is the future of transportation,” Hogan, a pro-business Republican whose victory in November shocked his heavily Democratic state, said after taking four trips along the 26-mile test track near Mount Fuji.

 

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#8 KevinKorell

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Posted 09 June 2015 - 11:11 AM

Progressive Railroading, 6/9/15:


 

Maryland applies for FRA funds for Maglev train study

 

 

While on a trade mission to Japan, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced last week that state officials have applied for $27.8 million in Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) funds to study the potential for a Maglev train system to be built between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore.

 

This story is here.

 

Amazing that Governor Hogan suddenly wants to spend all this money for a technology that really is not needed. Do people really need to get between Washington and Baltimore in 15 minutes?  The two cities are already connected by Acela Express, Northeast Regional, 2 MARC commuter trains lines, and various combinations of both cities' transit systems including light rail, heavy rail, and buses.

 

Much more needed are the east-west light rail subway within the Baltimore area (known as the Red Line), and the circumferential light rail line connecting several Washington Metro lines in suburban Maryland (known as the Purple Line). Money and efforts should be channeled into those two projects before Maryland wastes its money. Perhaps for Governor Hogan's next vacation he should visit a city with a working light rail system, something he can find in this country (I wish I could say in Baltimore but that system leaves much to be desired).


 

The privately sponsored BWRR's SCMaglev project is proposing a 15-minute train ride between Baltimore and downtown Washington, D.C., with an interim stop at the Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.

I think the intended word is "intermediate", not "interim"; the latter means temporary.



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#9 CNJRoss

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Posted 08 November 2015 - 06:23 AM

AP via WTOP radio 11/7:

 

Baltimore-DC maglev venture gets $28M federal grant

 

 

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — The federal government has awarded nearly $28 million in seed money to a private venture that seeks to build a high-speed magnetic-levitation train between Washington and Baltimore.

 

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan announced the grant on Saturday. Maryland officials applied to the U.S. Department of Transportation for the funds on behalf of the private venture, Baltimore-Washington Rapid Rail.

 

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#10 CNJRoss

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Posted 08 November 2015 - 12:28 PM

The Washington Post, 11/7:

 

Feds award $28 million to study ‘maglev’ train system for Maryland

 

The U.S. Transportation Department has awarded nearly $28 million to conduct studies on building a high-speed rail line that would carry passengers between Washington and Baltimore in about 15 minutes, according to Maryland officials.

The money will support ­private-sector efforts to bring magnetic-levitation trains to the region as part of a larger vision for building a maglev system along the Northeast Corridor.

 

Maryland’s Department of Transportation and the state’s Economic Development Corporation applied for the federal funds in April, with an understanding that the Japanese government and Baltimore-

 

Washington Rapid Rail, a private group, would provide significant investments for the project.

 

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