Urban League backs maglev train
In her first public act as incoming president of the Greater Baltimore Urban League, Tiffany W. Majors announced her organization's support Thursday for a proposed high-speed train linking Baltimore and Washington.
The magnetic levitation, or maglev, train, based on Japanese technology and boosted by a well-connected group of American investors, would travel at speeds topping 300 mph and connect the two cities in 15 minutes, backers say. The plan is currently being studied by federal and state officials.
Majors, who started in her new job this week, said construction of the train would be a huge source of good jobs for Baltimoreans, and she felt that establishing an early partnership with the train's backers would help to “ensure that we are not taking anything away from our impoverished cities, but putting forth an employment opportunity.”
Majors said it's “imperative” that nonprofits like hers focus on sustaining employment opportunities early and often — particularly with the Hogan administration's cancellation of the Red Line transit project through the city, Amazon passing over Baltimore's for its next headquarters, and the recently announced closure of a General Motors plant in Baltimore County.
Supporters estimate that construction of the maglev line would cost between $12 billion and $15 billion, arranged through a mix of Japanese loans, private investments, and federal government loans and grants. They say it would create thousands of jobs during and after construction
Wayne Rogers, chairman and CEO of Baltimore-Washington Rapid Rail, a U.S. company that would operate the proposed line, said he looked forward to working with Majors' organization “to provide a better quality of life for residents of the Greater Baltimore region” through infrastructure work linked to the project.
Planners have narrowed more than a dozen potential routes for the train down to two, both of which would be more than two-thirds tunnel and follow the Route 295 corridor. They also have narrowed potential station locations to two in the Mount Vernon Square area in downtown Washington; one beneath BWI Marshall Airport; and two in Baltimore — near Oriole Park at Camden Yards and one above ground in Cherry Hill, near Westport.