California-Nevada high-speed train plans scrutinized

Benjamin Grove

Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2000 | 10:47 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Officials of the Federal Railroad Administration on Tuesday grilled representatives of the California-Nevada Super Speed Train Commission about their proposed 300-mph train between Las Vegas and Primm.

Groups from seven areas of the country are vying for nearly $1 billion in federal money to build the nation's first magnetic levitation train route.

Administration officials are trying to narrow the finalists to two, three or four by Dec. 8, said Bill Monahan, the California-Nevada commission's planning director. The administration would pick one sometime next year, he said.

Railroad Administration officials this week are interviewing the seven groups about their proposals, submitted in June. Officials asked for further evidence to support ridership and cost projections, Monahan said.

The California-Nevada commission proposes a $1.3 billion, 40-mile route with trains carrying 12 million passengers a year between Las Vegas and Primm. The track eventually could extend to Anaheim, Calif.

"They weren't so concerned with the price as they were with the accuracy of the price (projection)," Monahan said. "They don't want a project with cost overruns."

Railroad officials in no way indicated their preferences among the seven projects, Monahan said.

"They were as buttoned up and as mum as could be," Monahan said.

The other proposals, which range in cost from $600 million to $6 billion, would be the first stages of routes linking: Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh airport; the New Orleans airport and the New Orleans Union Passenger Terminal; Atlanta and Chattanooga, Tenn.; Los Angeles International Airport, downtown L.A., Ontario Airport and Riverside County; Port Canaveral, the Space Center and Titusville Regional Airport in Florida; and Camden Yards in Baltimore, Baltimore-Washington International Airport and Union Station in Washington.

California-Nevada commission officials were meeting today with Nevada lawmakers in hopes that political muscle could aid their proposal.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said she would call Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater to voice her support.

"This proposal is easier to build, it would be less expensive, have less impact on the environment, higher ridership," Berkley said. "I have every reason to believe it will be one of the final few if decisions are made based on the merits."