Saturday, January 26, 2008
Are Nevada and California Ready For Maglev Train Lines That Will Shape The Future?
By Robert L. Candiotti
Reading about maglev trains has revealed to IvanpahValley.com that the California High-Speed
Rail project is a proposed train line stretching north-south from San Francisco and Sacramento, through the Central
Valley, and on to Los Angeles and San Diego, traversing the Inland Empire. The system is being planned by the California High-Speed
Rail Authority.
A $10 billion California bond measure to fund the core construction of the system is reportedly
scheduled for the state's 2008 general election in November. However, it is noted in Wikipedia.org that California's
governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, is proposing to postpone the project "indefinitely."
Still, one can
imagine the creation of a trans-California high-speed train system coupled and coexistent with
the California-Nevada Interstate Maglev line running from Southern California possibly all the
way to the proposed Ivanpah Valley Airport in Southern Nevada.
Between Ivanpah Valley Airport and Las Vegas'
McCarran International Airport (a distance of about 30 miles), perhaps a MagneMotion Maglev System ("M3")
could operate back and forth. MagneMotion apparently is designed to operate at speeds around 100 mph, which would
fit better on a more populated route between Ivanpah and McCarran, it seems. MagneMotion Inc. advertises that is able
to create different size maglev vehicles - accommodating variable numbers of passengers - on attractive and energy-efficient
guideways.
Between McCarran and along the Strip all the way to Downtown, the Las Vegas Monorail
Company could operate. The monorail company right now is working toward extending its system south all the way
to McCarran. IvanpahValley.com thinks this is a good idea. This monorail extension will not threaten taxis and shuttle buses,
this site believes. There will be enough demand to keep all the airport-to-Las Vegas forms of transportation adequately
used.
We're talking about the future. Eyes need to be on the future. Ten years from now, Southern Nevada
must be able to get people around safely , comfortably and efficiently to remain one of the most interesting and popular places
on the planet.
The job of IvanpahValley.com is to imagine these interlocking train systems.
To this website, it appears the future is calling loudly for these transportation developments.
Fortunately,
it is the job of others to finance and build these future-altering systems.
6:56 am pst
Saturday, January 19, 2008
California-Nevada Interstate Maglev Train Has Been Proposed For Route That Includes Ivanpah
By Robert L. Candiotti
A Maglev (magnetically levitating) train is a train that operates with electromagnetic force. Maglev systems
have been built in England, China and Japan. This form of transportation can be very fast and quiet. The fastest speed of
a Maglev train has been recorded in Japan in 2003 at 361 miles per hour.
According to Wikipedia.org, in an entry
titled "California-Nevada Interstate Maglev," a project is proposed for a 269-mile Maglev route from Las Vegas,
Nevada to Anaheim, California.
According to the article, the beginning 40-mile segment from Las Vegas to Primm, Nevada
- with an intermediary station at Ivanpah Valley Airport - received $45 million in 2005 for a planning phase.
The proposed stations for the entire route are:
-Las Vegas, Nevada
-Ivanpah Valley Airport,
Nevada
-Primm, Nevada (at the Nevada/California border)
-Barstow, California
-Ontario, California
-Anaheim,
California
-Los Angeles, California
To this blog, the Maglev proposal makes all the sense in the world.
The question is, will sense prevail?
3:23 pm pst
Monday, January 7, 2008
Raw Reflections - Las Vegas Needs To Continue Its Celebration Of Globalization
By Robert L. Candiotti
I had originally heard Dave Berns' State of Nevada KNPR interview with Sasha Issenberg - author
of The Sushi Economy - on November 21, 2007. I also listened to the repeat on December 28.
The topic of
that program - the globalization and high technology absolutely required to sustain the sushi industry - directly relates
to the need for Ivanpah Valley Airport, I think.
Sushi - because it comes from distant oceans, is necessarily transported
across the world by muscular jet planes and delivered to desert-locked Las Vegas within hours - is a chic metaphor
for Las Vegas' inherent global personality.
Issenberg talks about the "old rules," when life was
fairly local and transportation was relatively slow and very limited. One thing for sure, Las Vegas is not an "old
rules" town.
In the interview with Berns, Issenberg says, "Las Vegas is as good an example as one
can find on Earth of a place where, by the old rules, you shouldn't expect to find good seafood of any kind."
He continues, "You can get great sushi there. Why? You have an airport with major domestic and international connections,
and a lot of cargo activity."
Dave Berns quotes the Las Vegas telephone book saying there are 47 sushi restaurants
in Las Vegas, and 155 restaurants in the city that have sushi as a portion of the menu. Clearly, there is strong demand
for sushi in Las Vegas, and this demand can only be satisfied with a modern and extensive airport infrastructure.
Sushi is an exotic example of the essential need for Las Vegas to be forever easily accessible by air.
Las Vegas - to continue to be "Las Vegas" - needs to remain
easily and adequately reached by the world's population, as well as by international cargo.
When 2017 does arrive, and Ivanpah Valley Airport opens for business, the city will be pleased that the monumental
Ivanpah Valley project got the "green light" many years earlier.
10:42 am pst
