DC to New York under an hour?
Proposed several years ago, now they have some heavy hitters on board.
http://www.bizjournals.com/bal...in-turns-d-c-to.html
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Sorry not happening. If they can't get wdw to Orlando airport, LA to Las Vegas, the crowded nec full of NIMBY's, airline shuttles, expensive Turnpikes, and crooked politicians will make sure the shovel doesn't hit the dirt. Just look at the bs for a much needed new tunnel under the Hudson RIVER is being held up.
I can't say: "it won't happen" BUT... Even aside from the cost of building such a system, there are astronomical costs in operating it. Those magnets that keep the train "elevated" are not free and require a lot of power to operate. And, while the idea of "flying along at 300 mph" sounds attractive, the speeds for magnetic levitation are restricted by the same reasons that 4' 8 1/2" rails are limited. Curves and hills, congested population areas, scheduled station stops, other safety considerations, all will restrict the unlimited speeds of the projected system.
It kind of reminds me of the popular notion that a monorail system is what urban areas need for mass transit. They don't work either. Great amusement park rides but they are slow, expensive to build, hard to design switches (turnouts) for and are not, off-the-shelf production products. How about Las Vegas, you say? Yeah, another "amusement park" ride. Ever seen any extensions come along yet? Plan was to connect downtown Las Vegas with McCarran airport. That was well over ten years ago. I've ridden that slow, rough riding idea of some dreamer and I'm certainly not impressed.
When you have a system using technology that has been around for well over 100 years, and still works well; Why come up with something new and untried? Good old, standard gauge, two steel rails, electrically powered, rapid transit systems are cheaper, faster, are known technology and they work.
Paul Fischer
A Big Step Into The Future of Railroading.
Source - Baltimore Business Journal.
Gary
• Cheers from The Detroit and Mackinac Railway - Click on rendering to enlarge.
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If the Northeast corridor was upgraded to high speed rail standards as commonly used in France and Germany, with existing rights of way, it would be a much more cost effective way to expedite passenger service.
