A partnership of government and industry in southern Nevada plans to spend $1.3 billion to build the nation's first super-fast train.
Where do they want to put it after more than two decades of effort? From Las Vegas to Primm, a three-hotel sideshow on the Nevada-California border. It's best known for an outlet mall, the giant Desperado roller coaster and a bullet-riddled 1934 Ford that carried the infamous Bonnie and Clyde to their deaths.
Critics say the proposal is a train to nowhere. Supporters see a low-cost right of way through the desert that will lead to a revolution in ground transportation: the first commercially successful "maglev" -- magnetic levitation -- passenger service.
The vision belongs to a Nevada state commission that has tenaciously clung to the idea of building a 270-mile high-tech system from Las Vegas to Anaheim.
After almost 25 years of study and frustration, the project is now competing with Maryland and Pennsylvania for $950 million in federal funds earmarked for maglev development.
The technology uses magnetic force to propel trains on a cushion of air down a guideway at speeds of more than 300 mph. Power comes from an electrical charge in the guideway that attracts magnets in the train, pulling it forward. Only one, in China, is in commercial operation.
"This is going to be an E-ticket ride," said Bruce Aguilera, chairman of the California-Nevada Super Speed Train Commission. "It is the modern equivalent of the iron horse."
Just four years ago, the Nevada proposal wasn't even in the running for federal money. The only finalists were a 39-mile line between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., and a 54-mile system between the Pittsburgh suburbs and the airport. Their estimated costs: about $5 billion and $4 billion, respectively.
But with the help of Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) and Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), the powerful chairman of the House transportation committee, Nevada might get its dream shot, perhaps as early as this month. The maglev is part of the massive transportation bill that has passed the House and is now pending in the Senate. Congress will decide which of the three maglev projects will be funded, and more than one may get the go-ahead.
The Las Vegas-to-Primm train would be part tourist attraction, part transit operation. If it is built, proponents in the Silver State hope it will encourage California to extend the line from Primm to Anaheim by 2015.
