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Northeast Maglev (formally, The Northeast Maglev, LLC) is a private U.S. company proposing a
maglev Maglev (derived from '' magnetic levitation'') is a system of rail transport whose rolling stock is levitated by electromagnets rather than rolled on wheels, eliminating rolling resistance. Compared to conventional railways, maglev trains h ...
train system in the
Northeastern United States The Northeastern United States (also referred to as the Northeast, the East Coast, or the American Northeast) is List of regions of the United States, census regions United States Census Bureau. Located on the East Coast of the United States, ...
. The company aims to use the
SCMaglev The SCMaglev (superconducting maglev, formerly called the MLU) is a magnetic levitation (maglev) railway system developed by Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) and the Railway Technical Research Institute. The SCMaglev uses an electrod ...
superconducting Superconductivity is a set of physical properties observed in superconductors: materials where electrical resistance vanishes and magnetic fields are expelled from the material. Unlike an ordinary metallic conductor, whose resistance decreases g ...
maglev system developed by the
Central Japan Railway Company is the main railway company operating in the Chūbu (Nagoya) region of central Japan. It is officially abbreviated in English as JR Central and occasionally as JR Tokai (). The term ''Tōkai'' refers to the southern portion of Central Japan, ...
to provide 15-minute service between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., with an intermediate stop at BWI Airport, and ultimately connect major Northeast metropolitan hubs and airports with a goal of one-hour service from Washington, D.C., to New York City.


History

In 2003, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) prepared a Draft Environmental Impact Study (DEIS) on a proposal to build a maglev project linking downtown Baltimore to BWI Marshall Airport and Union Station in Washington, D.C. The project would have used
Transrapid Transrapid () is a German-developed high-speed monorail train using magnetic levitation. Planning for the system started in the late 1960s, with a test facility in Emsland, Germany, inaugurated in 1983. In 1991, technical readiness for ...
, a German maglev technology. An
Environmental Impact Statement An environmental impact statement (EIS), under United States environmental law, is a document required by the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) for certain actions "significantly affecting the quality of the human environment". An E ...
was prepared, but Maryland suspended the project and a final EIS was never issued. The Northeast Maglev, LLC, was founded on March 25, 2010, to promote a revived effort to bring a maglev train to the
Northeast Corridor The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston in the north to Washington, D.C., in the south, with major stops in Providence, Rhod ...
. Baltimore-Washington Rapid Rail, LLC, was founded in October 2011 and is the developer of the Northeast Maglev's first leg from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore. In March 2015, the FRA issued notice of available funding under the Maglev Deployment Program (MDP). In April 2015, acting on behalf of Baltimore–Washington Rapid Rail (BWRR), the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) submitted an application to FRA for the funds to perform preliminary engineering (PE) and National Environmental Policy Act (
NEPA The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) is a United States environmental law designed to promote the enhancement of the environment. It created new laws requiring List of federal agencies in the United States, U.S. federal government agenc ...
) work related to BWRR's SCMAGLEV proposal. In 2015, the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) approved BWRR's application to acquire a passenger railroad franchise abandoned in 1935 by the Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railroad Company. The Maryland PSC found that "the construction and operation of the SCMAGLEV between Washington, DC and Baltimore will result in substantial economic and social benefits to the State (of Maryland) and Baltimore and be consistent with the State's environmental laws and policies enacted or adopted to reduce harmful emissions for cleaner air and address the causes of climate change," and that awarding a franchise to facilitate in development of the SCMAGLEV was "in the public convenience and necessity." In 2016, the FRA awarded $27.8 million to MDOT to prepare preliminary engineering and NEPA analysis for an SCMAGLEV train between Baltimore, MD, and Washington, DC, with an intermediate stop at Baltimore-Washington International (BWI) Airport. The FRA and the MDOT were preparing an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to evaluate the potential impacts of constructing and operating a high-speed superconducting magnetic levitation (SCMAGLEV) system between Washington, DC and Baltimore, Maryland with an intermediate stop at BWI Airport. That EIS was "temporarily" ceased, waiting for an "updated engineering input from Baltimore Washington Rapid Rail, the subsidiary of Baltimore-based Northeast Maglev" and the FRA citing "so that work does not have to be redone once the engineering inputs are finalized", in December 2019. The EIS was being prepared in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), as amended, and other applicable regulations and procedures. Baltimore-Washington Rapid Rail is providing preliminary engineering and technical assistance as well as additional funding support, in concert with the FRA grant, for the NEPA process. In a Purpose and Need Statement, the NEPA Team for the SCMAGLEV Project, led by FRA and coordinated by MDOT, said the project's purpose was to increase capacity, reduce travel time, and improve both reliability and mobility options between Baltimore and Washington. "The population in the Baltimore-Washington area makes up one of the largest and densest population centers in the United States. Over the next 30 years the population in the area is projected to increase by approximately 30 percent. Similarly, the demand on the transportation infrastructure between Baltimore and Washington will continue to increase..." The project has received endorsements of support from organizations including North America's Building Trades Unions, Greater Baltimore Urban League, Maryland State Conference NAACP and four of its local branches, and four Baltimore–Washington corridor chambers of commerce including Prince George's Chamber of Commerce, Northern Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce, Baltimore City Chamber of Commerce, and Baltimore County Chamber of Commerce. On June 9, 2020, it was released that Northeast Maglev and B&O Railroad Museum created an alliance to bring educational support to the museum.


Route


Washington, D.C. to Baltimore

The first leg of the Northeast Maglev would connect Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, with a stop at Baltimore-Washington International (BWI) Airport. The first leg would be approximately 75 percent underground, and require a guideway (track) and three stations, a rolling stock storage depot, maintenance facility, power substations, ventilation plants, and an operations facility. In December 2018, the
Federal Railroad Administration The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is an agency in the United States Department of Transportation (DOT). The agency was created by the Department of Transportation Act of 1966. The purpose of the FRA is to promulgate and enforce railroa ...
released an Alternatives Report that identified two alignments that run along Baltimore-Washington Parkway to be carried forward as part of the more detailed Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) assessment process. The DEIS is a detailed analysis of the remaining options as they compare to the baseline, which is a 'no-build' option. The Alternatives Report also identified multiple station locations to be considered as part of the DEIS. In Baltimore, potential station locations include
Cherry Hill Cherry Hill often refers to: * Cherry Hill, New Jersey, a township in Camden County, New Jersey * Cherry Hill, Prince William County, Virginia, a census-designated place Cherry Hill may also refer to: Places Canada * Cherry Hill, Nova Scotia, a ...
in south Baltimore and a separate location closer to Baltimore's Inner Harbor at
Camden Yards Oriole Park at Camden Yards, commonly known as Camden Yards, is a ballpark in Baltimore, Maryland. It is the home of Major League Baseball (MLB)'s Baltimore Orioles, and the first of the Baseball park#Retro-classic ballparks, "retro" major le ...
. Proposed stations in Washington, D.C., include locations below New York Avenue, to the west and east of Mt. Vernon Square.


Northeast Corridor

While two specific routes are under consideration for the line's first leg from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore, routes from Baltimore to New York have yet to be designed. In all, the Northeast Maglev is planned to have eight stops, including: *
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
* Baltimore-Washington International (BWI) Airport *
Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...
*
Wilmington, Delaware Wilmington is the List of municipalities in Delaware, most populous city in the U.S. state of Delaware. The city was built on the site of Fort Christina, the first Swedish colonization of the Americas, Swedish settlement in North America. It lie ...
* Philadelphia International Airport *
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
*
Newark Liberty International Airport Newark Liberty International Airport is a major international airport serving the New York metropolitan area. The airport straddles the boundary between the cities of Newark, New Jersey, Newark in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County and E ...
*
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...


Technology

The Northeast Maglev will use the
SCMaglev The SCMaglev (superconducting maglev, formerly called the MLU) is a magnetic levitation (maglev) railway system developed by Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) and the Railway Technical Research Institute. The SCMaglev uses an electrod ...
superconducting Superconductivity is a set of physical properties observed in superconductors: materials where electrical resistance vanishes and magnetic fields are expelled from the material. Unlike an ordinary metallic conductor, whose resistance decreases g ...
maglev system developed by
Central Japan Railway Company is the main railway company operating in the Chūbu (Nagoya) region of central Japan. It is officially abbreviated in English as JR Central and occasionally as JR Tokai (). The term ''Tōkai'' refers to the southern portion of Central Japan, ...
(JR Central). JR Central has been developing SCMAGLEV technology since 1962. The Japanese government fully approved the technology for passenger service in 2014, and JR Central began offering public rides on its Yamanashi test track that year. The train holds the world record for fastest maglev train. JR Central is now extending its SCMAGLEV line, called the Chūō Shinkansen, to connect
Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
and
Nagoya is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the list of cities in Japan, fourth-most populous city in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the List of ...
, and ultimately Osaka.


Rolling stock

The line is planned to use a variation of the L0 Series that is used for the SCMAGLEV in Japan.


See also

* Baltimore–Washington Superconducting Maglev Project * North Atlantic Rail


References

{{High-speed rail in the United States Maglev High-speed railway lines in the United States 2030 in rail transport