Maglev train idea for Northeast resurfaces

[happyslug]

9. Is this going to die, for the same reason it died in the 1990s?

Presently it take Amtrak 47 minutes (40 minutes on the Acela) to go from DC to Baltimore. The distance is 35 miles

http://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/583/797/Thanksgiving-Timetable-NEC-2013.pdf

http://www.amtrak.com/ccurl/170/959/Northeast-Corridor-1-Schedule-101413,0.pdf

Given the distance, 35 miles. If a train did the trip at 70 mph, it could make the trip in about 30 minutes. At 150 mph, in 15 minutes.

Mag-lev comes into its own at speeds greater then 300 mph and distances of more then 100 miles, below that speed or distance, steel wheel on steel rail is both cheaper and faster.

Acela gets up to 150 MPH today. Its average speed is so much slower do to stopping and starting at the various stops between Baltimore and DC and the need to slow down to 80 mph when crossing certain bridges that need major overhaul for safe operations at 150-160mph.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acela_Express

The problem is the road bed and the right of way, DC to Baltimore to Philadelphia to NYC to Boston is the only profitable route for AMTRAK, and then only by ignoring the need to upgrade various sections of the rail way. Sorry, we can run a train between Baltimore and DC in 15 minutes TODAY, if we upgrade the existing right of way AND cut out all the stops in between. Such an upgrade would be less disruptive for this is through one of the most highly densely populated area in the Country, in addition to costing less then a MAGLEV project.

That upgrading the present AMTRAK system would be more cost effective then a MAGLEV system is what killed MAGLEV in the past, and will do so in the future. Why adopt an untested system when a tested system can be used cheaper, quicker and more frequently then the untested system?