Quote:
Originally Posted by delts145
Given the discussion above, I thought this was interesting. This is from a thread created recently over on the Transportation section of the SkyscraperPage Forum
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Delts145: The maglev project between Vegas and Anaheim is really interesting to me. Not because I think it will ever be built but because I wonder what is the REAL reason behind the appropriation of $45M to do an initial EIS on a small segment of the proposed project.
I had to read-up on maglev's to get an idea if they are feasible over such a distance. They aren't...too much technology to be worked out and too many environmental impacts. So what are the politicians truly up to?
Sen. Harry Reid (who is a pretty shrewd customer) and company might be using the maglev notion to pave the way for a conventional high-speed rail link between Las Vegas and Anaheim, which makes a lot of sense. California appears opposed to the link, thinking all it would do is take money out of Southern California and place it in Vegas. However, California might buy into the idea if it were couched in the notion of a non-fossil-fuel-burning, environmentally friendly (which it wouldn't be), mass transit system.
The whole scheme appears like politics at its best...doing the right thing for the wrong reasons. It also sounds like Sen. Reid is taking advantage of an idea I first heard from a colleague of mine many years ago: "There are NO grown-ups in Southern California."