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The Maglev Dream is Dead, and Good Riddance
So, the feds finally pulled the plug on that Baltimore-DC maglev train boondoggle. About damn time. All that talk about connecting DC to Baltimore in 15 minutes at 311 mph? Yeah, give me a break. Like that was ever going to happen.
Another Day, Another Broken Promise
Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy says the project "lacked everything needed to be a success from planning to execution." No kidding! It only took them wasting millions to figure that out. Seriously, $27 million in 2016 for "preliminary engineering and environmental review"? What exactly did that buy us? A bunch of reports gathering dust in some forgotten government archive, probably.
And who's surprised? This whole thing smelled fishy from the start. Baltimore Washington Rapid Rail, the company behind this mess, claims it would have resulted in "$6 billion in private investment" and created "more than 160,000 jobs." Oh really? Sounds like they were laying it on a little thick, don't you think? I'm betting half those "jobs" would be temporary construction gigs, and the "private investment" would come with enough strings attached to strangle a whale.
They even had two of Maryland's biggest lobbying firms working for them. Evans and Associates and Manis Canning and Associates... offcourse they did. That's all you need to know, ain't it?
The "Innovative Tech" Smokescreen
Gov. Wes Moore (D) is still clinging to the "innovative technologies" narrative. His spokesperson said they "must continue to investigate innovative technologies that better connect people." Right, because throwing billions at a pie-in-the-sky maglev train is exactly how you "better connect people." How about fixing the damn roads first, Wes? Or maybe investing in reliable public transit that, ya know, actually exists?
I saw a video of Japanese reporters being "flabbergasted" by the speed of the Japan maglev train. Sure, it looks cool. But is it practical? Is it worth the insane cost? Or is it just another shiny toy for politicians to point at and say, "Look how futuristic we are!" Reporters left flabbergasted when they saw the speed of a $70m Japanese Maglev train
And let's not forget the environmental impact. They keep touting maglev trains as some kind of green solution, but building all that infrastructure ain't exactly eco-friendly. Mining the rare earth minerals for those "powerful magnets" has a significant environmental impact. Where's the transparency on that? Where's the real cost-benefit analysis?
The Dream is Dead
Prince George’s County resident Susan McCutchen is "ecstatic" about the decision. Good for her. Del. Ashanti Martinez (D-Prince George’s) says, "This result is a culmination of years of advocacy." It's nice to see someone finally put this train to bed.
But hey, don't worry, the FRA says this decision "does not preclude future deployment of maglev technology in the U.S." So, we can look forward to another round of wasted taxpayer money and broken promises in a few years. Maybe. Maryland’s high-speed maglev train project is not happening