Maglev, uninvited guest at the High Speed Rail party

Maglev is an uninvited guest to the high speed rail party. Do not let the flashy videos and cool lines of the Maglev fool you, it gives you very little more than conventional high speed rail does for two to three times more. Maglev in America is a disaster in the making, and exactly what opponents to high speed rail want: a shiny expensive train that bankrupts its operators. Beyond its cost, Maglev's unique design makes it un-interoperable with conventional rail, making it far less flexible than its steel wheeled counterparts.

There is no denying that Maglev is incredible technology. It is clean, safe, efficient and by far the fastest land based transportation available. However Maglev is an unproven technology that risks costing high speed rail in America tremendous political capital. Though development of Maglev technology goes back over half of a century, there is only one high speed maglev in service today, the Shanghai Maglev train running 19 miles from Shanghai's Pudong Airport to just outside downtown Shanghai. Hailed as the first part of a bigger Maglev network, its expansion was quietly shelved three years ago in favor of a more cost effective alternative. Though far cleaner than air, bus or car, Maglev does not make any significant improvements in efficiency or emissions.

Therein lies one of Maglev's greatest weaknesses: its cost. For a corridor such as the densely populated Northeast Corridor of the United States, Maglev costs well over 100 million dollars per mile, conventional high speed rail on the other hands costs between two-thirds and half that amount. With limited funding available for the construction of new high speed rail lines, Maglev would give American taxpayers less bang for their buck. Now let me monetize that. For a DC-Boston high speed rail line, assuming a distance of 450 miles, Maglev would cost well over 55 billion dollars (assuming 120 million dollars as the minimum price per mile, including new bridges and tunnels). Conventional high speed rail would cost between 22.5 and 30 billion dollars. Both are gargantuan expenditures, however, with 37.5 billion dollars saved, the line could be extended well past Atlanta (another 620 miles, not to mention that construction costs would be far lower along the less densely populated I-85 corridor).

Even the folks at Desert Xpress abandoned their ambitions (and ill thought out plan) to build a Maglev from Victorville, CA to Las Vegas, NV, instead deciding to focus on building a conventional high speed line that would eventually connect to the California High Speed Rail (CAHSR). Beyond the fact that there is virtually no market for Victorville to Las Vegas, the Desert Xpress builders realized that without interoperability with the much bigger CAHSR, they would be dead in the water. (Seriously, why drive three hours to Victorville only to get on a train for 45 minutes? Why not just build the line to Anaheim or Los Angeles?)

Maglev is completely inoperable with existing rail lines. Conventional trains run on steel wheels on steel rails, the same as the rails that crisscross the country today. Maglev operates on (or floats on or around) a fixed guideway. If Maglevs were to be built in the United States, they would be unable to operated on conventional rail lines if demand necessitated, nor would they be able to be moved to other Maglev corridors if needed without incredibly expensive connector tracks. (Just for reference's sake, a high speed train could easily be moved from New York to Los Angeles over conventional tracks, a Maglev would need to be disassembled, transported across the country by truck or rail and then be reassembled on the other line).

There is a silver lining in all of this. Maglev does have a future, if the funding can be found, as a downtown to airport shuttle as Shanghai has discovered. Maglev's rapid acceleration and high speed would connect far flung airports to city downtowns in record speed. The current circuitous route from Manhattan to New York's Kennedy Airport on the Long Island Railroad to the AirTrain could be replaced or supplemented by a direct link using a mix of elevated and underground maglev. The 18 mile trip from Kennedy Airport to a transit hub in Manhattan (either Penn Station or Grand Central Terminal) would take under fifteen minutes. Other cities, including Washington, D.C. with its far flung Dulles Airport would stand to benefit from a fast link from downtown.

But really Maglev, you need to go, you're stealing High Speed Rail's thunder.

Photo Credit

(1) User Alex Needham on en.wikipedia

(2) My own work