When I first heard about the proposed high-speed train that would rocket passengers from Baltimore to DC in around 15 minutes, I thought what many other people did: Great idea, but fat chance it’ll ever happen. Well, it’s looking like my pessimism might’ve been unwarranted; this week, the company that’s proposing to build the train announced that it already has $5 billion in funding, more than half the project’s estimated $8 billion cost. That’s $1 billion more than they were planning on lending a few months ago.
These Japanese government is so confident that this is the technology of the future that the’ve also agreed to waive licensing fees for the maglev train technology, paving the way for the first so-called floating train in the United States. The ultimate goal is to build high-speed rail line stretching from DC all the way up to Boston.
Of course, funding is just the first step in a process that’s probably going to last more than a decade… but the more real this plan seems, the more excited I get.
