Facebook
Fark
Digg
Reddit
Stumble
AP Photo/Telegraph Herald, Jessica Reilly and Nevada Appeal file
Secretary of Transportation Ray Lahood, left, sent a letter to Gov. Jim Gibbons saying the governor was inaccurate to report the feds were releasing $45 million for a high-speed train to Southern California.
Wednesday, Sept. 23, 2009 | 10:32 a.m.
Sun Archives
- Maglev money sparks a Gibbons-Reid quarrel (9-18-2009)
- High-speed rail competition heats up with new funding (9-16-2009)
- Beyond Victorville: Coloradans covet high-speed rail, too (9-14-2009)
- DesertXpress train aiming for March construction start (9-1-2009)
- Forum to address DesertXpress train proposal (6-28-2009)
- High-speed train plan gets notice in D.C. (6-24-2009)
WASHINGTON -- The check is not in the mail.
That was the message today to Gov. Jim Gibbons in a letter from the Department of Transportation secretary regarding the release of $45 million earmarked for the maglev train.
"It has come to my attention that you were recently quoted in the media as saying that Nevada expected to receive funds this week," Secretary Ray LaHood wrote. "If such a statement was made, it is not accurate."
LaHood said he "cannot commit to a date certain" when the Federal Rail Administration would take action.
Gibbons announced last week that the feds were releasing $45 million for the magnetic levitation train between Las Vegas and Southern California, funds that had been set aside for the project in a 2008 federal spending bill. The money had been delayed as the maglev project lagged in coming up with the $11 million in required matching funds.
Maglev and the proposed DesertXpress train are in a fierce competition for the Vegas-to-Southern California route.
The maglev project suffered a setback earlier this year when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid dropped his support in favor of DesertXpress, but Gibbons' announcement last week stoked the competition as he stepped up to back maglev.
LaHood said the maglev project was under review.
Gibbons lied??? Or maybe he is just inept?
"Luv Guv Gibbons" is just plain batsh*t crazy... Oh yes, and I'm sure he wasn't even paying attention. Want to bet he was texting another girlfriend with another state issued cell phone?
The Guv may be inept (oh, alright, he probably is), but waddya bet Prince Harry pulled LaHood's string on this one?
I still can't beleive the "train to nowhere" is even on the table.
That is a relief, that $45 million would have got us, what, 1 mile of mag-lev rail?
No need in blowing any more money than the $18 billion we already will spend over the next 2 years.
The guv is batsh*t crazy? Wow...good one! I can't wait to use it in my next conversation with anyone who wants to talk about "no new taxes" Goober...
There must not be anything more important to deal with.
One another note; Gibbons has announced his case of the crabs is over.....
Sig Rogich lobbies for the Desert Express. Harry Reid switches support from Maglev to Desert Express. Sig Rogich starts group called "Republicans for Reid". Smells like the fish market.
How embarrassing for the Governor.
My questions, since he's lost many of his key, intelligent staff members since he was elected:
How stupid are Gibbons' senior employees?
How stupid is Gibbons?
I sure hope Rory Reid and the Republican replacement-governor-wannabees take a lesson from this little extravaganza. No self serving press releases until a person with an I.Q. above 120 looks at the documents.
I forgot to say if this was all a prank engineered by Harry Reid, my hat is off to him. It's always amusing to see someone trip a handicapped person.
Gibbons is trying to get money to Nevada and Harry is trying to stop him. Doesn't Harry care about Nevada jobs? Gibbons certainly does.
Even if the money comes to the MAGLEV project can anyone tell me what people in Nevada will be working on the engineering and environmental studies?
Most if not all is going back out to specialists in other states.
Perhaps Governor Gibbons would be intelligent enough to know this fact, but then we must be asking to much from him.
We should be businesswise, not politicwise and be wise in spending money. Give up the other project, Desert Express if Desert Express or Maglev if Maglev. It is not practical to spend Federal funds to compete private projects, then it is against Capitalism. Just imagine,starting with the two projects and ended up in one. It is a common knowledge that having two competing trains for the same market and route is very impractical. Give up our ego before its too late and ended taxpayers money into waste.
Reality check: there is now ZERO available right of way for maglev between San Bernardino and Anaheim. What's available is reserved for freight rail, commuter rail, California HSR phase 2 and dedicated truck lanes out of the LA/LB harbors.
http://fwix.com/share/14_db6df6e202
If Las Vegas wants direct rail service into Southern California, the ONLY option left is to back DesertXPress and push for a connector between the systems, e.g. between the towns of Mojave and Barstow. Since both projects are for electrified standard-gauge steel wheels HSR systems, there will be no need for passengers to transfer, just trackage rights. Some DesertXPress trains would then run between Anaheim, LA and Las Vegas. Others would run between Victorville and Las Vegas.
If there is sufficient ridership, a second connector between Victorville and the California HSR phase 2 spur from LA to San Diego via Cajon Pass could be built 20-30 years from now. However, mountains are expensive to cross so for now I strongly urge you to latch onto the California HSR phase 1 starter line in the High Desert.
With a completed Draft EIS and proven steel wheel trains, DesertXpress will create jobs far sooner than Maglev. The Maglev project they are trying to get environmentally cleared only goes 40 miles to Primm -- NOT to Anaheim.
They have no money to build it to Primm, let alone to Anaheim, and would need tens of billions of taxpayer dollars to do so. Three public agencies considering maglev completed independent studies that pegged its cost at $100 to $200 million per mile -- which would make it $26 to $52 billion -- not $13 billion.
Also there are no existing safety standards in the US for Maglev, this could take years to develop and get approved. The German government, whose taxpayers paid for the development of the maglev technology, has completely abandoned the technology in favor of more high speed rail. The Chinese Government decided not to extend the short (19-mile) line feeding Shanghai Airport; instead, they are building the world's largest high speed rail network.
Thirty years ago when Maglev technology was first introduced, it promised speeds never before imagined in rail. Since then, steel wheel has gone through many evolutions and set speed records only a few miles an hour slower than Maglev. High speed trains operate at speeds up to 220 mph. The maglev has never operated anywhere outside of a test run at speeds any faster than that.
The trains selected to operate at 150 mph for the first phase of DesertXpress have been certified to run at speeds up to 186 mph. DesertXpress's first phase goes 200 miles into Southern California at no cost to the taxpayers. DesertXpress's second phase to Palmdale will connect with the entire state through its voter-approved high speed rail network.
Hats off to you, Patti, for at least giving some information and analysis, which of course shows that once again Gibbons has failed to think something through.