Re: Transrapid's latest story

[Merritt Mullen <mmullen@ridgecrest.ca.us>]

David Bromage wrote:
> 
> He said that 5 maglev projects had been approved under the $1 billion in
> funding announced by Clinton, and 4 of these would be Transrapid.
> 
> It's not easy to get any information about this funding. What exactly
> was it? At the time, I understood it to be funding for more research on
> the "American Maglev" concept of the US Army Corps of Engineers.
> Transrapid said it is funding for actual passenger lines.

The "5 projects at $1 billion" is incorrect.  What was just announced
was the selection (not "approval") of SEVEN finalists to SHARE a total
of $12 MILLION in federal funding for maglev development.  The 7
finalists and their projects are:

PA:  45 miles, Pittsburg airport to downtown
MD:  40 miles, Baltimore-BWI-Washington
NV:  40 miles, Las Vegas to Primm
FL:  20 miles, Titusville airport to Kennedy Space Center
LA:  40 miles, New Orleans airport to downtown
GA:  40 miles, Atlanta to Cartersville, GA
CA:  75 miles, LAX-Los Angeles Union Station-Ontario airport-Riverside County.

I hadn't heard that any of the above had actually selected the
Transrapid system (it seems a bit early for that).  Obviously, a 1/7th
share of $12 million ($1.7 million each if divided equally) is not going
to buy much more than a study.

Read all about it at:

http://abcnews.go.com:80/sections/tech/DailyNews/trains990525.html

Merritt