The source: federal stimulus funds for shovel-ready projects. The university applied for $299 million in funding this week through the U.S. Transportation Departments Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Discretionary Grants Program.
The Urban Maglev National Demonstration Test Facility at California University, with 8,200 students, would connect the universitys upper campus and the nearby Center in the Woods senior citizen complex, which serves 600 people daily, with the universitys lower campus and the borough of California (population 6,000). It fits the federal program criteria to create systems serving universities, urban centers, and national parks.
The urban maglev project is separate from, and half the speed of, high-speed long-distance mag lev projects, like the Philadelphia-Pittsburgh plan that received $28 million in federal money last week.
“Well carry 5,000 (individual trips) a day. This will demonstrate the advances of maglev technology,” says David OLoughlin, president of Pittsburgh-based U.S. Maglev Development Corp., which is working with the university on the project. He says the steep grade and sharp turns required will show that maglev is feasible in less-than-ideal Northeastern conditions: current maglev systems, like those at Pittsburgh International Airport and Floridas DisneyWorld operate in dry, flat conditions. “Its as green as you can get with a transit system, requiring less electricity and maintenance because theres no friction. It will demonstrate to urban areas that this can be built and flawlessly served.”
OLoughin says project construction will create at least 3,000 jobs in Washington and Fayette Counties. He is hoping for a federal response by next February.
Source: David OLoughlin, U.S. Maglev Development Corp.
Writer: Chris OToole