The Brunch Table » Baltimore: Let Pittsburgh have the Maglev

5/12/2002

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— Joe @ 5:01 pm

Here’s a Washington Post story with a negative spin on Baltimore’s bid for the federal maglev project. Naturally, Pittsburgh’s bid has its share of detractors as well. Still, I’d rather have commuters riding this than the beloved Mon-Fayette Toll Road.

Comments (1)

Jeff

There appears to be no good reason to put a mag-lev train in Pittsburgh. For the first reason, what does it connect to what? From what I understand, the proposed Pittsburgh mag-lev will connect one suburb to another. That does no good for the general public. Do people really need to get from one side of the city to the other that fast? Will they really pay for it? On the other hand, the Baltimore Washington mag-lev will connect two major east-coast cities. Thousands of commuters a day have been begging for a faster way to get from DC to Baltimore. Not to mention, the proposed mag-lev will have a stop at BWI. This is perfect for the nations fastest growing airport. I for one would gladly pay $25 to take the mag-lev to the airport than a $60 cab ride. The Pittsburgh newspaper also says that Pittsburgh would be a better choice because of the changing seasons. Maybe they haven’t been to Baltimore ever, but the seasons change there too. All the way from over 100 degrees in the summer to below freezing in the winter. This makes it just as good of a test site as Pittsburgh. In addition, the Baltimore Washington mag-lev lends itself to further expansion to new york and atlanta. If anyone should be giving anyone a mag-lev, it should go to Baltimore.