Mag-lev train gets new boost

Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2002 | 10:58 a.m.

A high-speed magnetic levitation train may be back on track for Las Vegas after a key congressional leader pledged support Monday.

Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, said the Las Vegas-to-Southern California plan is better than the plans the federal government is considering.

At a transportation summit in Las Vegas with area political leaders on Monday, Young said he thinks he can kill funding for one of the two projects the federal government is planning, which could open the way for the Las Vegas bid. The bid that would link Las Vegas to Orange County, Calif., was knocked out as a finalist last year.

"(Young's comments) resurrected a project that very well could have become a non-starter," said Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., who sits on Young's committee.

Young, chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said California and Nevada cannot depend on him alone to carry the ball for the technology.

"It's going to take both delegations," he said. "You've got to help me make this the issue."

Young made no promises, but the congressman expressed strong support for the region's bid to develop the mag-lev train from Orange County, Calif. to Las Vegas. The train has been on the drawing board for a decade, and a year ago, the federal Department of Transportation gave the go-ahead to a project in Western Pennsylvania and one from Baltimore to Washington.

Young said he thinks he can kill the funding for the Baltimore-to-Washington project.

Young said Southern California and Southern Nevada are better sites for the demonstration project. Because of the West's wide open spaces, fewer problems with rights-of-way exist, he said.

Lawmakers could consider several options that would put the California-to-Nevada project back in the mix. If one of the projects gets scrapped, the Nevada project may not be a lock. Congress could fund a project in both the East and the West, but finalists are now expected to compete for the final funding.

"Either way, this is a very, very important project," Berkley said. "Politics entered into the decision to not go forward with our project, and I'm delighted to see the chairman supportive of the project going forward."

The project's estimated cost would be $1.3 billion for just the 40-mile trip from Las Vegas to Primm. Some money -- $1.2 million -- was authorized for the coming year for environmental studies for the project.

Young suggested that the best way to complete the project would be to fund work from both ends -- at Ontario, Calif., from the west, and from Las Vegas on the east. The project is important now because the Sept. 11 attacks disrupted air travel, he said.

Young said he has ridden similar mag-lev trains in Europe.

"Once people start riding the thing, they'll start demanding it," he predicted.

At the transportation summit, local leaders lobbied Young for funding across the board, saying that Southern Nevada is teetering on the brink of transportation collapse and is in desperate need of federal funding.

"We are in a transportation crisis," Regional Transportation Commission General Manager Jacob Snow said minutes after the meeting with Young. "The problem is it is only going to get worse."

The local group told Young the region is already plagued with traffic jams and air pollution. Funding for mass transit programs and expanded highways is critical if only to keep the problems from intensifying.

The congressman said he is generally sympathetic to some of the region's top priorities.

Among them:

Among the elected officials asking for federal funding were Gov. Kenny Guinn, Reps. Berkley and Jim Gibbons, state Sen. Jon Porter, Las Vegas City Councilman Larry Brown, Henderson Mayor Jim Gibson and North Las Vegas Mayor Michael Montandon.

Clark County Aviation Director Randy Walker, county Public Works Director Marty Manning and Snow were among the agency officials who likewise pitched for more local funding.

The effort comes in advance of what will likely be a lengthy and contentious process in Washington to divide the federal transportation budget for the next half-decade.

The six-year federal Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century expires next fiscal year. About $218 billion was distributed under the plan.

Congress will have to pass a new multi-year transportation authorization after hearings that will likely continue over the next year.

The transportation funding comes from an infrastructure trust fund collected from gasoline taxes.

In 1998, Nevada contributed about $30.4 million to the mass transit fund but received only $10.5 million back, Snow said. Snow compared that to the District of Columbia, which contributed a spare $5.6 million but received $262.5 million back.

Young agreed that Western states, in general, do not receive a fair share of the mass transit infrastructure dollars from the federal government.

"The reality is that you're a donor state, and you're not getting your money back," he said.