Maglev company vows to steam on

It doesn't matter what Harry Reid thinks or says, the American Magline Group is moving forward with its plan to build a high-speed rail line from Las Vegas to Anaheim, Calif., project leaders say.

The Senate majority leader contends the company hasn't come up with the required 20 percent in private matching funds. It claims it has.

Reid announced he lost faith in the project because the company hasn't made adequate progress. It asserts it has.

And Reid said he plans to use the $45 million in federal funds that had been set aside for the magnetic levitation train for other public transportation projects throughout the state. Company executives say not so fast.

"The law says that money is not transferable," American Magline Group President Neil Cummings said Monday before presenting the project at a forum sponsored by the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

"We wish he supported us," Cummings said, adding that the company stills plans to move the project forward.

After abandoning the maglev project last summer, Reid threw his support behind the DesertXpress, a steel-wheeled train that would take passengers to Victorville, Calif.

Gov. Jim Gibbons' office, which also has said the maglev project is moving full-speed ahead, produced an April letter from the American Magline Group to the Nevada Department of Transportation announcing that the private matching funds have been secured.

The funding will come from a joint venture that includes Parsons Transportation Group, General Atomics and Hirschfield Steel Company, according to the letter.

"We would like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation for your leadership, and the cooperation of NDOT in this program, which can only revolutionize and transform transportation in the 21st Century," Cummings wrote.

Nevada Department of Transportation Director Susan Martinovich sent a letter back, expressing her appreciation that the group could provide the private funding. She noted she would direct her staff to expedite the project.

"The Nevada Department of Transportation has worked closely with the California-Nevada Super Speed Train Commission since its inception in 1988 and looks forward to doing so in the future to make this project beneficial to the people who live and travel along the I-15 corridor," Martinovich wrote.

Cummings said that the company could break ground within 18 months and that the entire system could be up and running within four or five years after construction begins.

The first leg of the train on the Nevada side will run between Las Vegas and Primm. In California, the train would extend from Anaheim to the Ontario International Airport.

"We'll start two segments and connect the dots in the middle," Cummings said. "We'll get two of the trains running and making money."

Also, the federal House Transportation Infrastructure Committee is expected to put aside $50 million for high-speed trains, and the Nevada project would be eligible for that funding, Cummings said.

The rail line costs about $45 million per mile; the entire route to Southern California is about 270 miles. Cummings said he is confident the rail can be funded through federal loans and private sources.

Cummings told the audience that the maglev project is a better option than the DesertXpress. Not only will the maglev train travel 300 mph, as opposed to about 150 mph, but it would be a less expensive mode of transportation, Cummings said.

A one-way ticket to Anaheim will cost $55; a one-way ticket to Victorville on the DesertXpress will be $50.

The maglev train would reach Anaheim in 81 minutes; the DesertXpress trip between Las Vegas and Victorville would take 84 minutes.

More advanced technology allows the maglev train to handle the El Cajon Pass and travel to Anaheim. Cummings said the train could handle grades of up to 10 percent; grades in the pass reach 7 percent. Steel-wheeled trains can handle about 4 percent grades, he said.

The maglev train would have stops in Primm, Barstow, Calif., Victorville, the Ontario airport and Anaheim.

Cummings said the project would create 90,000 jobs in California and Nevada.

That is good news for workers such as Donny Grayman, a member of Iron Workers Local 416.

"Everybody is up in arms with this economy," Grayman said of struggling construction workers. "With this on the horizon, it gives everyone a glimmer of hope."

Contact reporter Adrienne Packer at apacker@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0287.