300mph Mag-Lev from Disneyland to Vegas gets $45M from Fed

[kstar]

I'd guess this is a multi-billion dollar project, but it would be a popular route, IMO.

How much would you pay for a 300mph, less than 2 hour trip from the land of Mickey Mouse to Sin City?

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."


Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D914R5LG1&show_article=1

[Christien]

>well under two hours, traveling at speeds of up to 300 mph

>the 250-plus-mile drive

Uhh, it's been a long day, but shouldn't the trip take under *one* hour?

[legion]

Originally Posted by Christien

>well under two hours, traveling at speeds of up to 300 mph

>the 250-plus-mile drive

Uhh, it's been a long day, but shouldn't the trip take under *one* hour?

It depends on if it makes stops along the way.

[kstar]

It probably doesn't run 300 the whole way either . . . like leaving and entering the cities.

[Christien]

Ok, I didn't take stops into account. But wouldn't that defeat the purpose of a high speed train? It's one of my big problems with local commuter rail. There's no express train into downtown, so what could potentially be a 30 minute train ride is an hour and 20 minutes because of stops.

[nostatic]

China has a maglev in Shanghai. Might want to ask them if they'd do it again

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Cool idea.

Right now this is the kind of thing we SHOULD be putting money into. Weak dollar, recession, etc. Tourism is going to be something that we can bolster up (with the dollar weak, foreigners can come here and buy a lot, making it attractive for them). If we are to set up something like this, it only means they'll stay longer, explore more, and spend more $$$. Not a bad idea.

It'd be a gajillion times better than sitting on the 15 for hours on end or packing like cattle onto a 737 into McCarran.

I'm normally not a big fan of government spending, but this one is actually one I can get a little bit excited about - it shows a HINT of forward thinking, which is quite refreshing.

[TerryH]

I guessing Vegas would help subsidize tickets or the build itself. It's no longer "cheap" for everyone to drive to Vegas. They don't want the California gamblers staying home and giving their money to the indian casinos.

[kstar]

Originally Posted by TerryH

I guessing Vegas would help subsidize tickets or the build itself. It's no longer "cheap" for everyone to drive to Vegas. They don't want the California gamblers staying home and giving their money to the indian casinos.

Good point. In the land of multi-billion dollar casinos, the owners could probably pull off the financing for such a project, IMO.

[HardDrive]

I would love to share some of your enthusiasm, but do you guys have any idea how much something like that would cost? They were considering a 14 miles monorail up here in Seattle, and it was going to end up costing north of $15 Billion. I can't even imagine the cost involved with a project of that scope.

Can we see some hard cost/benefit numbers that shows how many more japanese drunken gamblers we are going to get from building said train?

"Did someone say monrorail?"

[the]

I hear Shelbyville has a monorail.

[kstar]

A billion a mile? Wow, if that's accurate.

Edit: That number cannot be correct, FWIW.

Some quick research shows typical costs from ~$25M to ~$45M per mile.

Take the high number of $45M x 250 miles = $11.25B.

I'd gamble that the big casino owners could get it financed and probably make a pretty good case for the economics.

[Hawktel]

Should have a 300+ from San Diego to Seattle IMHO.

And I hope they do one from Vegas to SLC.

And From San Fran out through Reno, to SLC. Then SLC to Denver, and from Denver to Chicago.

[the]

I somehow don't see SLC to Vegas happening, EVAR!

[nostatic]

Originally Posted by the

I hear Shelbyville has a monorail.

it's no North Haverbrook

[nostatic]

btw, interesting reading. Conan O'Brien wrote the episode, and it is considered by many to be among the best ever:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marge_vs._the_Monorail

[Wickd89]

I love trains. I once rode a bullet train in Japan going 420 kph.
It would be great to have a train to Vegas!
2 hours is less than what it takes to get from irvine to Magic Mtn; image how great this would be.

Tired of hearing about it. Lets make this a reality!

[Mo_Gearhead]

45 million? pffffft

Sounds like just about enough for a feasibility study ...and hiring a couple dozen experts/consultants.

I wouldn't hold my breath waiting on that (train) ever coming to fruition.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Yea it's the Phase I EIS and feasibility I think. I also doubt it will ever see the light of day, but it's a neat idea anyway. . .

[legion]

Yes, the project hasn't even gotten to the point where every single community between Disney and LV sues to stop the project yet...