MARTA says no funding for maglev train

September 19, 2009 by Jeanne Bonner
Filed under: SMART GROWTH 

photo by Hexham8629 via flickr

photo by Hexham8629 via flickr

The folks at MARTA say the maglev train idea is nice and all, but there’s no money for it.

Sure, MARTA’s CEO Beverly Scott and other employees saw a demonstration of how a maglev train works at American Maglev Technology’s test track in Marietta.

And sure Scott was quoted on Atlanta Unfiltered as saying, “We’re drilling into the numbers with them. We’re real interested in continuing the discussion.”

But in an official statement MARTA sent me this morning, the transit system strikes a much vaguer, less upbeat assessment, saying there’s still a long way to go before MARTA thinks the service would be ready for prime time here in Atlanta.

In the meantime, MARTA said it has offered to help the company work through “safety, operational and financial questions” to help “position this initiative” at home and at the federal level.

The two-paragraph statement ended this way: “For now, MARTA looks to become more informed on the Maglev project as their research and development continues.”

As you know from my previous post, the idea of connecting MARTA to Turner Field via maglev train surfaced at a MARTOC meeting earlier this week.

AMT has a sample drawing on its Web site of how it could add a maglev train line to MARTA’s Lindbergh station that you can see here.

(Also, here’s a cool Q&A with the company’s president that appeared in the AJC last year).

I left y’all hanging for so long so I wanted to give you the few crumbs I had managed to collect, but I hope to add some more detail.

Five days is a long time to wait in this day and age so thanks for your patience.

(Photo at top is of a maglev train in Shanghai).

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Comments

3 Comments on MARTA says no funding for maglev train

  1. Steve on Sun, 20th Sep 2009 3:27 pm

    2. What’s so much better about a Maglev train to Turner Field, besides the cool factor? Conventional technology could do the same job for less.

  2. Silvia Medrano on Mon, 21st Sep 2009 4:37 am

    3. For once, couldn’t Atlanta do something that’s ahead of the curve? Maglev technology is here, but I just wonder about the logistics of this plan. You’d still have to get to Lindbergh station…

  3. Neville A. Ross on Tue, 29th Sep 2009 11:53 pm

    4. How about being ahead of the curve in something other than objects that bring death to people? This is something that the American government should be funding that will keep jobs in America-isn’t this what you want? Or do you all just care about nothing but making weapons of mass destruction and polluting private vehicles?

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