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Transportation Bill Sets Aside $45 Million For MagLev Train

Posted by Soulskill on from the zoom-zoom dept.

tbischel tips us to news that the MagLev train project which would run from Las Vegas to Disneyland has received approval for $45 million in funding. The project has been in the planning stages for quite some time, and it was delayed further by a drafting error in a 2005 highway bill. "Derided by critics as pie in the sky, the train would use magnetic levitation technology to carry passengers from Disneyland to Las Vegas in well under two hours, traveling at speeds of up to 300 mph. It would be the first MagLev system in the U.S. The money is the largest cash infusion in the project's nearly 20-year history. It will pay for environmental studies for the first leg of the project."

18 of 402 comments (clear)

  1. Trains, US? by skeldoy · · Score: 5, Funny

    Trains in the US & A? Can this really be true?
    Surely this must involve burning of insane amounts of petroleum somehow! Maybe the magnets are powered by petroleum?

    1. Re:Trains, US? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Trains in the US & A? Can this really be true? Surely this must involve burning of insane amounts of petroleum somehow! Maybe the magnets are powered by petroleum?

      He's a heretic. BURN HIM!

    2. Re:Trains, US? by mrbluze · · Score: 5, Funny

      He's a heretic. BURN HIM! .. with petroleum! Ahh.. that feels better.
      --
      Do it yourself, because no one else will do it yourself. [beta blockade 10-17 Feb]
    3. Re:Trains, US? by tompaulco · · Score: 4, Funny

      Trains in the US & A? Can this really be true?
      We have trains in the United States. I know. I just priced taking the train instead of the airplane for a possible upcoming vacation. It turns out that the train is more than twice as expensive as the plane and takes two days instead of 5 hours.
      The point was moot anyway as it turns out I am not in the class of people that can afford to go on vacation.

      --
      If you are not allowed to question your government then the government has answered your question.
  2. they better check out North Haverbrook first... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Well, sir, there's nothing on earth
    Like a genuine,
    Bona fide,
    Electrified,
    Six-car
    Monorail!

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marge_vs._the_Monorail

    1. Re:they better check out North Haverbrook first... by Skater · · Score: 2, Funny

      Actually Vegas already has a monorail. :)

  3. The Wonders Of Engineering by steeljaw · · Score: 5, Funny

    Start your day shaking hands with Mickey and in under 2 hours you can be getting a blow from Minnie! Woot Woot! Engineering has cum a long way :p

    --
    Procrastinators, Unite Tomorrow!!
  4. Interesting Route by FurtiveGlancer · · Score: 4, Funny

    From a place where one makes memories with the kids, to a place where one wishes nothing remembered.

    --
    Invenio via vel creo
  5. From Vegas to Mouse-land? by denzacar · · Score: 5, Funny

    It is not a train.

    Its a ride.

    --
    Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
  6. Re: "making it actually useful" by conureman · · Score: 4, Funny

    This is USA, home of AMTRAK. Profitable would be cause for concern. It absolutely must not provide a viable alternative to the current system. BART only runs because it is expensive and impractical. Think of the Oil Companies!

    --
    The cost of that cleanup, of course, will be borne by taxpayers, not industry.
  7. Re:This thing is definitely going to happen. NOT. by jimicus · · Score: 2, Funny

    Because it's like, FUCKING DESSERT. Well, you know, running railway lines through several hundred miles of apple pie and ice-cream can't be that easy. I'd imagine they'd likely sink into the pie, and I can't imagine how you'd keep the ice-cream frozen.
  8. Bread and Circuses by haakondahl · · Score: 4, Funny
    Gosh--if only the technological prowess and unparalleled economic might of the United States could somehow transport us between fairy tale wonderlands and our hookers and gambling--a little faster.

    What a world we might make then.

    --
    Don't trust anyone under thirty.
  9. Re:This thing is definitely going to happen. NOT. by mh1997 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Not to mention that it is some of the most hostile dessert in the US.
    Yeah, it's loaded with trans fat.
  10. Have You Ever Made That Drive? by FurtiveGlancer · · Score: 2, Funny

    I remember it as an unending procession of nothing, particularly Barstow. ~

    --
    Invenio via vel creo
  11. Re:Huge construction project.. recession.. by Provocateur · · Score: 3, Funny

    You think it's only for holidays? You obviously haven't spoken to any Las Vegas hooke...er I mean businessmen. In the tourism industry.

    --
    WARNING: Smartphones have side effects--most of them undocumented.
  12. Re:Huge construction project.. recession.. by Atzanteol · · Score: 2, Funny

    Do you really think the US invented and has a monopoly on stupid politicians?

    --
    "Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge"

    - Charles Darwin
  13. Re:Huge construction project.. recession.. by tmalone · · Score: 2, Funny

    Not a monopoly, but we were recently granted a patent. You'll be getting a letter from our lawyers soon.

  14. Re:Critics by redbaritone · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yes, the government really should get involved. It takes FAR too long and is way too unpleasant for people in LA to blow their money as it is. It's just traffic -- err tragic. ;-)

    Seriously though, why shouldn't the casino owners pony up for this?