An effort to create rapid transit in the Northeast would start in the BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport region and increase long-distance jobs, officials said.
The Northeast Maglev (TNEM) CEO Wayne Rogers is trying to improve the connection between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., to New York City with a rapid rail system that would get riders there in less than an hour. Local residents would be able to hold jobs in New York and live in this area, he said.
“I see opportunity in Anne Arundel County,” said Rogers, whose firm has offices in Annapolis, Baltimore and Washington. “Someone can go over to BWI and get on the train and be in New York in 45 minutes.”
The company has been pushing the SuperConducting Maglev, which provides high-speed ground transportation with speeds beyond 300 miles per hour. Instead of riding on standard railroad tracks, the trains levitate between the walls of a U-shaped, concrete guideway. The guideway has walls surrounding the trains on both sides that make the system free from derailment, officials said.
The Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) is developing a commercial SCMaglev that will connect Tokyo and Osaka. In the Northeast United States, it would go between the District and New York, with six stops in between, including BWI and Baltimore. It would take 60 minutes to travel between Washington and New York, 30 minutes between Philadelphia and New York and 15 minutes between Baltimore and Washington.
The first leg is expected to cost $12 billion — which could be offset by the Japanese government subsidizing half the construction cost and Gov. Larry Hogan pledged to apply for a $28 million federal grant to study a route between Baltimore and the District, according to The Baltimore Sun.
This story has been updated to correct Wayne Rogers name.
