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Losing its magnetism

A levitating train to link Vegas to Disney? Now cheaper ideas compete.

It's been hailed as the future of mass transit and ridiculed as a big gamble on little more than an amusement park ride. Which is a pretty clever insult, considering the project in question is a magnetically levitating train that would speed tourists from Las Vegas to Disneyland.

Whether the idea gets off the drawing board depends on Congress and the fate of a rival train project.

"What all of this shows is that there's certainly a need for high-speed rail, an interest in high-speed rail. We're finally getting the attention," said Alan Wapner, a member of the Ontario, Calif., City Council who sits on the commission pushing for the nation's first MagLev train.

The plans are competing for a big piece of the tourism industry: Ten-million Southern Californians make the 250-plus-mile drive to Las Vegas each year. The vast majority take an increasingly clogged Interstate 15 that can make the drive an ordeal of five hours or more.

For nearly two decades, the main plan was the futuristic MagLev train that would zip riders between Sin City and the Magic Kingdom in well less than two hours, hurtling at up to 300 mph. But a delay in federal funds needed for planning the public-private venture has suddenly given traction to a cheaper diesel-electric alternative dubbed DesertXpress.

The private DesertXpress would whisk riders to Las Vegas at 125 mph from the town of Victorville, Calif., some 1 1/2 hours northeast of Los Angeles. Travel time, including the drive to Victorville: three or four hours.

Backers of DesertXpress, among them Nevada GOP powerbroker Sig Rogich, are pouring millions into their project and courting Nevada lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., a longtime supporter of MagLev.

The most recent delay to afflict the Anaheim-to-Vegas MagLev plan was a drafting error that blocked $45-million the project was supposed to get in Congress' 2005 highway bill. Legislation to correct the error is held up in the Senate. If it gets the boost, the MagLev project plans to issue bonds and seek government loans. The holdup has given Rogich time to make his case.

MagLev has received more than $9-million in federal money over the years, spending most of it on design plans, ridership projections and other studies. The additional $45-million would pay principally for environmental reviews.

DesertXpress says its project would cost $3-billion to $5-billion - compared with $12-billion or more for MagLev - and would be privately financed. MagLev's higher price comes from its technology, in commercial use only on one short route in China.

Many are skeptical either train will leave the station. One reason: Neither proposal brings travelers to Los Angeles. Even a train that ran between L.A. and Vegas wouldn't guarantee success. Amtrak's Desert Wind between the cities was canceled in 1997 because of low ridership.

"I remain skeptical that there's sufficient demand to make it appear it could be a market success," said Martin Wachs at the Rand Corp. think tank.

[Last modified February 29, 2008, 01:00:09]