Mitsubishi wants to build Las Vegas transport system

Monday, Jan. 11, 1999 | 10:17 a.m.

A major Japanese corporation is interested in building a mass transportation system in Las Vegas.

The Mitsubishi Corp., which has divisions that build ships and automobiles, also develops several types of mass transportation systems in its electric division and is interested in developing the Regional Transportation Commission's proposed fixed guideway system.

Two representatives of Mitsubishi gave a presentation last week to the RTC's fixed guideway subcommittee. The company, which has developed transportation systems on nearly every continent in the world, offered a technological proposal as well as a financing plan.

The RTC is in the process of preparing an environmental impact statement on a 15.6-mile transportation system that would operate between downtown Las Vegas and McCarran International Airport along the Las Vegas Strip.

The RTC is expected to choose a transportation technology by summer and commissioners are educating themselves on the different types of systems available by hearing proposals and visiting cities that have monorails, light-rail systems and other mass transit lines.

Mitsubishi, Japan's largest general trading company with assets of more than $71 billion and an annual net income of more than $358 million, manufactures and operates several different types of trains.

Ryuji Watanabe, assistant general manager of the power and traffic project development department of Mitsubishi in Tokyo, told commissioners that his company is not only interested in building and operating a system in Las Vegas, but investing in it as well.

The company operates transportation systems in Japan and has built subways and commuter train systems in Seoul, South Korea; Barcelona, Spain; Cairo, Egypt; and Mexico City.

Watanabe and Takashi Murakami, vice president and general manager of a Mitsubishi branch office in San Francisco, explained that it could finance the project through a public offering, private placement, institutional investors and through its own investment. They also said they could explore Japanese source financing available through their government.

Watanabe gave a presentation on a Mitsubishi automated guided system -- a train similar to the transport system in operation at McCarran Airport between its main concourse and its C and D gates.

Mitsubishi operates a 6-mile line linking central Tokyo with the city's developing waterfront district. The Yurikamome train, which operates on an elevated track, has a capacity of 352 passengers and can reach speeds of up to 50 mph.

Watanabe said one of the benefits of the technology is its quiet ride -- the trains are supported on rubber tires along a concrete track.

Kurt Weinrich, director of the RTC, said Thursday's presentation is one of a series from several companies that have expressed interest in Las Vegas' transportation system. Other companies that have expressed interest: Raytheon, Seimans, Ansaldo, Bechtel and Frederic R. Harris. Transco, a Honolulu-based company developing monorail systems in China, also has made a presentation to the RTC.

When commissioners decide what type of technology to choose for the city's system, they'll be able to evaluate the pros and cons of each type and develop a request for proposals on which competitive bids can be submitted.