Not This Sh%$ Again

The Simpsons are prescient

It looks like some grifters are looking for idiots to fund a high speed Maglev (Magnetic Levitation) train between Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, DC.

I like high speed rail, but the numbers for Maglev do not make sense.

If you assume a top speed of wheel driven locomotives of 300 km/h (the French TGV has reached 320 km/h) and the top speed of a Maglev is 450 km/h (the Chinese Maglev is anticipated to reach 430 km/h), then a trip from Baltimore to DC (60 km) will take only 3½ minutes more with high speed rail (00:12:42) as versus Maglev, (00:09:02).

For DC to New York City (350 km), it's 01:10:42 (HSR) vs. 00:47:43 (Maglev) non stop, just under 23 minutes more.

As an FYI, I am assuming an acceleration of 2m/s2 which would equates to a 0 to 60 mph time of about 13½ seconds, which is reasonable and each additional stop reduces this advantage by 31 seconds for both distances.

Neither project is cheap, both would required the construction of a new railway, but both the tracks and the rolling stock for a Maglev are many times more expensive.

Maglev only makes sense in the context of national vanity projects, and given the state of US rail, we are decades away from being able to brag about anything involving railroads.

You can see my calculations here.