In Japan, Md. governor is wowed by super-fast trains — with big price tags

[mahatmakanejeeves]

In Japan, Md. governor is wowed by super-fast trains — with big price tags

Asia & Pacific
By Anna Fifield June 4 at 3:20 PM 
@annafifield

TSURU, Japan — Imagine getting from Baltimore to Washington in less than 15 minutes. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan certainly did Thursday when he hurtled through the Japanese countryside at 314 mph.

Hogan wants Maryland to get these “maglev” trains — short for magnetic levitation — and Japan wants to sell them.

“There is no question that this is the future of transportation,” Hogan, a pro-business Republican whose victory in November shocked his heavily Democratic state, said after taking four trips along the 26-mile test track near Mount Fuji.

If he’s right, it’s an expensive future — even many in Japan are balking at the multibillion-dollar cost of the fast new trains. And in the United States, such trains would face daunting questions concerning not only cost (and more importantly, who would bear it) but the need to find a right of way through the most congested and perhaps litigious part of the country. It would take an unusual amount of national willpower to make the idea a reality.

[HassleCat]

1. Hey Gov, three letters

ROW. That stands for right-of-way. Ask anyone involved in building airports, shopping centers, roads, etc. and they'll tell you horror stories about securing land, easements, access, and right-of-way.

[TexasProgresive]

2. Gone are the days when the rail roads could condemn land at will

and if not will use extreme means to force their will.

[HassleCat]

3. They can still do it

They just don't get the land for free, the way they used to. In the bad old days, if you didn't want to let them cross your land, the simply sent someone out to force you to sell cheap or die.

[TexasProgresive]

4. I believe that was my point

Here in Texas there was an initiative to do a higher speed rail between San Antonio to Dallas to Houston back to S.A. There was an outcry by ranchers and farmers not so much on account of ROW but the division of property with limited crossings which would land-lock acreage, making it near useless. That with the high noise of the trains built a coalition with various groups of whatever political stripe to sink the project.

I remember when I-610 loop was being built in Houston- there were miles of condemned houses and business waiting to be knocked down for the road. I was aware of how that came about but I am sure there was some fire and brimstone.

[HassleCat]

5. Atlanta, too

Atlanta build freeways the way third graders make paper snowflakes at Christmas. There was a huge stink about the latest beltway project because it condemned a whole bunch of land owned by the less affluent, and failed to improve public transit for poor and working class folks. Last I heard, they were forced to improve bus and rail connections as sort of a "condition" of condemning all that land.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

7. Some More About Federal Railroad Rights of Way

Federal Railroad Rights of Way

What is the General Railroad Right of Way Act of March 3, 1875?

[elleng]

6. Maryland's governor thinks the Purple Line is too expensive, but wants to build a $10 billion maglev

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan campaigned on cutting costs. Since taking office, however, he's expressed interest in throwing big money at numerous transportation programs—just not the transit lines that actually work and which businesses and residents want. His latest big spending idea: A $10 billion maglev between DC and Baltimore. . .

But it's hard to make the case that maglev is a better investment than the raft of projects already in the pipeline.

The obvious big ones are the Purple Line and Baltimore Red Line, which Hogan has said are "too expensive." His administration has dismissed studies that purport to show big economic benefits from building the Purple Line, instead focusing entirely on the cost.

But you can't focus on the cost of the Purple Line and not the cost of a maglev. This graph shows the amount Maryland, counties, and the private sector would all have to pay to build the Purple Line, not counting federal money already pledged and money already spent. On the right is the expected maglev cost.

http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/27001/marylands-governor-thinks-the-purple-line-is-too-expensive-but-wants-to-build-a-10-billion-maglev-/

OK, I'm outta here, going to drive on MD suburban roads, DC beltway, and MD state roads to southern MARYLAND.

ENOUGH of this 'governor.'

[MisterP]

8. maglev still needs generous curves, and that means all the same problems as upgrading the NEC

to HSR
on top of that, it's only worth building after HSR capacity's filled up: currently it's only justifiable Osaka-Tokyo and MAYBE South Korea: Washington-Baltimore is just going to be a stump that can't really pay to make its way out to Boston