$6.8 billion California-Nevada magnetic train idea still alive

Friday, Dec. 11, 1998 | 11:53 a.m.

Proponents of a high-speed train to California hope to get a proposal back on track after being derailed by funding problems.

The Regional Transportation Commission of Clark County voted Thursday to appropriate $2 million of its federal funds -- aimed at relieving congestion and improving air quality -- to help the California-Nevada Super Speed Train Commission in its bid to obtain a larger federal grant.

The CNSSTC is attempting to get $6 million from the Federal Railroad Administration to begin planning and designing a magnetic levitation (maglev) transportation system that would whisk passengers between Las Vegas and Los Angeles at 300 mph.

The congestion mitigation air quality funds, federal money disbursed by the Nevada Department of Transportation, would represent a local commitment to the train project and qualify the CNSSTC for the larger grant.

Train backers say the congestion problems the RTC can alleviate are a highway bottleneck on Interstate 15 and air traffic slowdowns at Los Angeles International Airport.

Building a maglev train between Las Vegas and Los Angeles meets the grant criteria, supporters said, and it ultimately would help Las Vegas by making transportation easier for the nearly 10 million Californians who visit each year.

Proponents of the maglev train say it would be competitive with airlines and cars and could make the trip between Los Angeles and Las Vegas in about an hour and a half.

Jack Libby, a Las Vegas developer, is the incoming chairman of the CNSSTC. He and Arnie Adamsen, a Las Vegas city councilman who serves as treasurer of the group, explained the proposal to the RTC board.

"It's a train without wheels and a plane without wings," Adamsen said of the maglev, a technology employing propulsion with electromagnets.

The developers hope to duplicate a German maglev project. A 20-mile test track built in Elmsland, Germany, has led to construction of a track between Hamburg and Berlin.

The CNSSTC proposes to build a guideway in the I-15 right-of-way in phases. Adamsen said when a section between Las Vegas and Primm is built, the trip there would take about 12 minutes.

The biggest obstacle for the project: funding it. Developers estimate the project would cost $25 million a mile -- roughly $6.8 billion for 275 miles of track.

One of the major advantages of the maglev propulsion system is that it can maintain a high speed regardless of steep grades. That means a train would be able to speed uphill, even at treacherous Cajon Pass, south of Victorville, Calif.

Adamsen said the time is right for Nevada to become involved in the maglev train with I-15 reaching capacity.

The timing is right to push for easier transportation from Southern California in the wake of the passage of Proposition 5, Adamsen said. The measure, the constitutionality of which is being reviewed by California courts, could lead to the proliferation of casinos on Indian reservations in the state.

Maglev proponents also said the project would create hundreds of jobs, many of them high-tech positions, in Nevada and Southern California.