Politics could derail Las Vegas-Primm train

Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2000 | 11:12 a.m.

The main obstacle to winning nearly $1 billion in federal money for a super-speed train from Las Vegas to Primm could be politics, an advocate for the service said Tuesday.

Jack Libby, chairman of the California-Nevada Super Speed Train Commission, said the Las Vegas-to-Primm option is superior in all respects to six other options competing for the federal dollars.

But a ranking Republican on the Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee is Sen. Arlen Specter from Pennsylvania. A proposal to build a regional super-speed train in and near Pittsburgh, Pa., is one of the seven options still on the table, and Specter will likely try to bring that money to his home state, Libby said.

Specter's office in Washington, D.C., did not return phone calls today.

Libby said the Pittsburgh option -- along with the Las Vegas-to-Primm option -- will likely be among the finalists selected in October for the Federal Railroad Administration's "maglev deployment program."

The program is designed to demonstrate the viability of advanced technology trains riding on a thin cushion of air at speeds beyond 300 mph. The commission and train advocates want to build a 40-mile section of the train from Las Vegas to Primm, then extend the line to Anaheim, Calif., south of Los Angeles.

The initial section of the line would cost about $1.2 billion, with the Federal Railroad Administration grant paying most of that. Bonds, to be paid from ticket sales, would cover most of the rest of the cost.

Libby said the uninterrupted stretch of open desert to Primm helps keep the proposal cheaper than other contenders for the federal grant. The Las Vegas-to-Primm option would be a minimum of $1 billion cheaper than the Pittsburgh option, he said.

Advocates for the train said it would help air quality by cutting the number of cars crowding the busy California to Nevada Interstate 15 corridor, relieve congestion at McCarran International Airport, and speed visitors to the Las Vegas tourist mecca.

They also said the train, to be powered by electricity and not direct fossil-fuel combustion, would have minimal environmental impact.

"If this program is going to take off anywhere in the world, it's going to be in Las Vegas," said Jim Caviola, with engineering company Parsons Transportation Group.

Libby spoke at a public information meeting on the train grant. The meeting was an opportunity for people to provide formal comment on a draft environmental impact statement published by the Federal Railroad Administration.

About 20 people attended the meeting at the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, but no one spoke against the proposed super-speed train. Most of those at the meeting worked for the commission, companies working on the project or otherwise supported the concept.

Libby predicted that the Las Vegas-to-Primm option will make the cut in October of finalists for the $950 million federal grant. The federal government should award the money to one of those finalists in April.

"We're the best corridor," Libby said. "We're going to keep up a hard lobbying effort in D.C."

Part of that effort will be to get informational "ammunition" to Sen. Harry Reid, who also serves on the Transportation Subcommittee, he said. Reid, a supporter of the proposal, as a Democrat is a minority member of the committee.