Maglev train funds being sought again

WASHINGTON -- Attending a national governors meeting this weekend, Gov. Jim Gibbons plans to press anew for the Obama administration to release $45 million in federal funds to advance the proposed magnetic levitation train line between Las Vegas and Southern California, an aide said Thursday.

Gibbons is scheduled to meet on Sunday with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood after the Cabinet member's presentation at the National Governors Association winter meeting in Washington.

"He is going to ask for the status of why the funds have not been released," said Ryan McGinness, director of the Nevada state office in Washington.

"All the conditions were met as of May," McGinness said. "The (Federal Railroad Administration) agreed in October all the conditions were met. It is at least nine months."

A spokesman for the Federal Railroad Administration said Thursday the agency "is still reviewing the status of the maglev project in Nevada."

In a letter to Gibbons in September, LaHood said he could not commit to when final action would be taken.

The $45 million was authorized in a highway bill Congress passed in 2005 after it was inserted by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev.

But it hit a roadblock last summer when Reid announced he was withdrawing his support for the project in favor of Desert XPress, a competing privately funded venture.

Reid said the maglev project was moving too slowly and there now were better ways to spend the $45 million. He said he planned to have the money reprogrammed to other Nevada projects.

Maglev supporters say they have met the conditions to acquire the funding and that it should be made available to them by law. They say they suspect the Obama administration is slow-walking a decision.

But others say it is possible the administration is weighing whether to commit taxpayer money to a project when there is a privately funded alternative also in the works.

The partners in the maglev project, which include the states of Nevada and California, and a consortium of engineering and manufacturing contractors, envision a 269-mile high-speed rail route between Las Vegas and Anaheim, Calif.

They estimate the cost at $45 million per mile, including $1.8 billion to build the first 40 miles from Las Vegas to Primm, and to prepare for constructing a segment between Anaheim and Ontario, Calif. They promise 90,000 jobs will be created.

The meeting between Gibbons and LaHood comes on the heels of a letter sent to the Federal Railroad Administration earlier this month by Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, a supporter of the maglev project.

Young pressed agency administrator Joseph Szabo to "clarify what obstacles have hindered the completion of this transaction."

"Governor Gibbons and Gov. (Arnold) Schwarzenegger are eager to begin this valuable project, which is dependent on FRA sponsorship," Young wrote on Feb. 4. "I hope you will be able to obligate these funds as soon as possible."

Gibbons was scheduled to arrive in Washington on Friday and depart on Monday. McGinness said Gibbons also might meet with Bob Abbey, the Nevadan who is director of the Bureau of Land Management.