Maglev ghost train has generated spirited debate, not much else

The image of the amazing, colossal maglev shimmers in the distant desert like a ghost train in a dime novel.

Its superior technology enables it to climb the mountains conventional trains must skirt. It licks up the long valleys at a top speed of 310 mph, far faster than the competition. And because it glides on a concrete and steel guideway system instead of a simple set of tracks, it's more expensive but also promises to generate far more construction jobs in a vicious recession.

While the amazing, colossal desert ghost train remains an illusion, its troubles are very real. Now that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has publicly endorsed the rival DesertXpress project despite its substantial shortcomings -- most obviously its unintentionally comical Victorville-to-Vegas route -- maglev has lost its political purchase.

After calling into question the time it has taken to see the maglev materialize, earlier this year Reid all but declared it dead when he sided with DesertXpress and its chief political promoter, Sig Rogich, who also happens to head "Republicans for Reid."

Just this week, Gov. Jim Gibbons sparred with Reid over the disbursement of $45 million from the Federal Railroad Administration to Nevada transportation officials to start the maglev project. While the dollars were designed to go toward the California-Nevada Interstate Maglev Project, which is loosely scheduled to break ground in 18 months, Reid spokesman Jon Summers derided the plan: "Maglev has been talking about it for 30 years, but they have not made any progress on it."

Can the futuristic maglev project be resurrected despite such powerful political opposition?

You might say American Magline Group president Neil Cummings has everything riding on it.

He makes persuasive arguments for maglev's technology and potential to connect Las Vegas with Anaheim. It's more costly than the steel-wheel alternative, approximately $13 billion versus $4 billion according to a March 2009 U.S. Government Accountability Office report, but it also stretches 86 miles farther from one metro area to another. While DesertXpress is designed primarily as a "gamblers' express," Cummings said maglev makes practical sense for Southern Nevada residents traveling to Southern California.

But when one of the most powerful politicians in America says your $13 billion project could cost $40 billion, a figure not supported in the GAO report, you know you're in trouble.

"We think we can get Senator Reid back in our corner, eventually," Cummings said. "We hope to do that. If he'd been told $40 billion, I can see why he'd think maglev was real expensive. But the GAO report doesn't say that. It's not true."

Cummings' group has many things working against it, including the fact that the longest maglev line in the world is just 19 miles, but American Magline has picked up an important ally in Nevada AFL-CIO executive secretary-treasurer Danny Thompson. A member of the interstate train commission, Thompson has studied the issue for a decade.

"The train in and of itself will be an attraction for Las Vegas," Thompson said. "There is no other maglev train in the United States. ... The technology is sound. It works. It will work. It will be an amazing attraction."

It also will generate thousands of jobs for Nevada construction workers. (American Magline estimates 90,000 construction jobs will be created. Even if that estimate is 66 percent inflated, it's still 30,000 jobs at a time the state's work force is desperate.)

Compared to the laying of tracks made from Chinese steel, Thompson said maglev is the best deal for Nevada workers. That statement puts this campaign-savvy organized labor boss on the opposite side of an issue with his most important and powerful political partner.

"I support Harry Reid 150 percent," Thompson said quickly. "I respect Harry's position. I've just been associated with this thing too long and know what it could be for Southern Nevada. I think it would be a great thing for Southern Nevada."

This issue holds the potential of big trouble for Reid, who can ill afford a misstep as he seeks re-election. The last thing Nevada's self-styled friend of the workingman wants is to be perceived as a dealmaker who placed his political ambition above potential job creation.

That presumes those thousands of construction jobs, like the phantasmagorical maglev train itself, aren't also of the ghost variety.

John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0295. He also blogs at lvrj.com/blogs/smith.