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StumbleMaglev train backers woo contractors with promise of jobs
Thomas Bordeaux, senior transportation manager of Parsons Transportation, left, and Neil Cummings, president of American Magline Group speak to the Associated General Contractors luncheon Thursday at the Orleans about the progress of the maglev project and how it will impact construction jobs.
Friday, Jan. 22, 2010 | 2:05 a.m.
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Sun coverage
The American Magline Group didn’t have a difficult time Thursday convincing general contractors to support its plan to build a magnetic levitation train from Las Vegas to Anaheim.
It just took one promise — 90,000 jobs.
Neil Cummings, president of the group, and Thomas Bordeaux, deputy project manager from Parsons Transportation, spoke to more than 250 people at the quarterly Associated General Contractors luncheon at the Orleans.
The plan may need their support before it can deliver on the promise to employee all those construction workers.
“There’s a lot of aspects of this project that’s going to rely on general contractors here in Southern Nevada, and it cannot be built without them. Our business plan is dependant on that,” Bordeaux said.
Cummings told the contractors that their help was going to be key in getting the federal government to support the project instead of others around the country.
“It can happen here. It will happen here with your help, because you’re the ones that are going to build it,” Cummings said. “I’m just a lawyer and I can talk, but you guys can build it, so we’re counting on you help us.”
After 20 years of work, the project has been struggling as support has been building for the competing DesertXpress project, a proposed high-speed wheels-on-steel train line to Victorville.
That project is privately funded and backers say construction could begin within a year.
The maglev train uses new technology that would provide a faster trip, and a trip all the way into Southern California’s population center.
But it is more expensive, and federal transportation officials haven’t delivered on promised funds to work on the final design and engineering aspects of the project.
Cummings asked the contractors to contact Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and their congressional representatives, even providing form letters for them to use.
The contractors seemed eager to reject the DesertXpress project in favor of the maglev train.
One audience member asked if the “ludicrous idea of the competition building a train to Victorville” was dead.
It’s not, but many of the contractors said they felt the maglev train would be better for Southern Nevada and they have hope for how the project could benefit their companies.
“It will bring jobs to the market,” said David Dieleman from Dielco Crane. “It would be a good boost for a lot of local contractors, maybe not us as much as other companies, but it could be a boost for us, too.”
Plus, the train would bring more tourists to Las Vegas, which could spur more construction, Dieleman said.
“It’s not just the short-term job growth,” he said. “If you can open up the market to millions more people, it would be a big boost to the whole area.”
Cummings said the project would be beneficial to Las Vegas and everywhere along the route where stations are built.
“This project is something that could really revitalize the entire valley,” he said.
The train, which would provide an 81-minute trip to Anaheim once completed, will cost $12.1 billion to build, Cummings said. It will be built in segments, each of which should be profitable, he said.
Bordeaux said the project will be labor intensive and may even exceed the capacity of Las Vegas contractors.
Once the project is built, the contractors would be the first with experience with the new technology, which could lead to other jobs, Cummings said.
Sean Stewart from Aggregate Industries left the presentation as a supporter of the project.
“I think it’s the future of travel in between the two places,” he said. “This is something we’d love to participate in and it would be a great boost to our economy.”
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The developers are missing one of the biggest benefits of the Maglev: Businessmen, Unemployed, or underemployed people who want to live in LV, or keep their home in LV, but want to do business or gain employment opportunities in southern California. The maglev people should start to campaign heavily with these people. I'll bet that the Maglev gets the support it needs from savy business people. N V Envy
I would commute to my job in So Cal with this train !! In a heart beat !!!! BUILD IT !!!
No matter which system is decided upon, this project MUST MOVE FORWARD FAST! We need this for our future survival here in Las Vegas!!
They need to woo financial backers with promises of profits. Are they doing that?
We can't afford it. Period. Look at the Big Dig in Mass., went from 2.9 Billion to 15 Billion in a heartbeat. Thousands of overpaid slow motion Union loafers bilking the project day after day. Steve Ross cheering them on. And that's only the first 35 miles to Primm.
After that, the Cali Union loafers take over, and it will only get worse. No way this will get built.
90,000 jobs building the unsustainable mag lev train by killing just as many other jobs elsewhere in the economy....
Why do American Magline and DesertXpress have to compete against each other???
Seems to me that if DesertXpress passengers simply transferred in Victorville to a Maglev to Anaheim, it would be a win-win for everybody.
DesertXpress's ridership projections would increae dramaticly due to the Maglev connection...
And American Maglines' capital startup costs become more reasonable because they don't have to absorb the excessively high construction costs along the "easy" segment from Vegas to Victorville.
Or does that make too much sense for the political peabrains who are squabbling over this thing to understand?
If the Maglev train is so wonderful why not build it from LV to Phoenix 1st?
There isn't even an interstate to compete with between these two cities.
Isn't the desert express scheduled to break ground sometime in March? I think the maglev is a much better idea, but harry reid and obama are backing and pushing for the desert express.
If we can give 850 billion to banks, why not put 12 billion into this. 90,000 jobs!!!!! hit the start button....
Yeeaaahhhh, And when it's completed let the local Mormon Mafia run it in the ground just like the MOMO rail that runs down Paradise that is now bankrupt. C'mon now everyone, get behind this and support it so the MOMOs can make lots of money on it. You think I'm whacked ? you just watch and see who ends up with it.
OK here we go again. The developers of this Gadgetbahn want to use public money to build their dream. Maglev has turned out to be impractical and unworkable. The Shanghai Airport Maglev the only Maglev that is actually caring passengers was built as a "bell cow" to show the Chinese government the advantages of Maglev over conventional High Speed Rail. After coming in over budget and over a year late it turned out to be extremely power hungry, it had vibration, noise and overall did not meet promises made by its builders. After this experiment the Chinese dropped Maglev and went with conventional HSR for their national HRS system. What do they know that we do not? Why is Maglev not being considered for any other HSR world wide?
The developers and contractors will make millions even if this amusement park ride never gets built from all of the prep work with the EIR' designs etc. No wonder they are pushing it so aggressively. Just follow the money. If it is so wonderful and will be profitable from the start why are they asking for public money? Let the casinos and developers pay for and profit from it after all they will benefit most.
Even if it is built as a conventional HSR is there a need, who will use it and will there be a large enough ridership to justify its cost?
I used the words Gadgetbahn and amusement park ride, let me add boondoggle. Look at all the promises made about the Las Vegas Monorail and now look what we have. Let's stop wasting money now and stop this imposable dream before more money is spent and all we have to show for the expense is a stack of paper reports at best or a Desert Express that is not completed or does not work or is underutilized at worst.
It's not just the short-term job growth," he said. "If you can open up the market to millions more people, it would be a big boost to the whole area."
What millions more people? The same people who now just drive or fly?
It seems you all miss the most important points when discussing mag lev trains. Maybe with all that oil coating your gulf you may come to realize your addiction has you in a very sickend state. Appalling. Maglev requires no oil, is many magnetudes safer in operation, can replace 3 modes of transportation at once. It can be made faster than air travel, or incorporated with as a launch assit. No parts to wear out, less noise, more efficient. Bringing this technology to the world saves energy and provides a greater freedom to all the world.. that is of course once the transglobal connections are made. This could be the Peace Train that saves humanity. I could tell you how, but please feel free to Dream and wish this into reality