If you hate driving the 15 to Vegas....

The Associated Press is reporting that the long-planned mag-lev train between Las Vegas and Disneyland received $45 million in funding today from a bill signed by President Bush.

Don't get too excited. This is a multibillion-dollar project that has been talked about for many years -- and project proponents have been chasing this money for some time. But the money allows environmental studies to continue.

The full item after the jump.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Plans for a levitating train from Las Vegas to Disneyland can move forward under a transportation bill signed by President Bush on Friday that frees up $45 million for the futuristic project.

Derided by critics as pie in the sky, the train would use magnetic levitation technology to carry passengers from Disneyland to Las Vegas in well under two hours, traveling at speeds of up to 300 mph. It would be the first MagLev system in the U.S.

The money is the largest cash infusion in the project's nearly 20-year history. It will pay for environmental studies for the first leg of the project.

The money had been delayed by a drafting error in Congress' 2005 highway bill, which was corrected along with some other changes by the legislation signed Friday by Bush. The delay had allowed a competing and cheaper diesel-electric plan to emerge as an alternative, but with the money now freed up supporters hope to move forward with the MagLev plan.

The train is meant to ease traffic on increasingly clogged Interstate 15, the main route for the millions of Southern Californians who make the 250-plus-mile drive to Las Vegas each year. There is no train on the route — Amtrak's Desert Wind between Los Angeles and Las Vegas was canceled in 1997 because of low ridership.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., praised passage of the law, saying the MagLev project “will safely and efficiently move people between Southern California and Las Vegas.”

Comments

[Madam_S]

Why does it need to be MagLev? That's going to make it cost twice as much (and therefore kill it). Just build a REGULAR high-speed train (you know, with wheels). Just don't call it Amtrack. A regular "bullet train" like in Europe or Japan can still make the trip in about an hour, and you don't need a car in Las Vegas, anyway. There's no worries about right-of-way space out in the desert, either. It's perfect!!

[Lynn]

It's hard to believe the Vegas casinos aren't doing more to try to move this forward. It would be their best argument to get people to go to Vegas instead of closer Indian casinos. I know I'd go more often if I could get there in 2.5 hours and not have to bother with a car.

[Dana Gabbard]

"It is not futuristic, these trains exist in Asia and Europe."

These is one MagLev testtrack in Germany, and a single two station 20 or so mile line between Shanghai and its airport. And by all reports it is not very successful.

If Vegas wants it, they can pay for it.

[adam]

It is not futuristic, these trains exist in Asia and Europe.

We are Way behind the rest of the world when it comes to public transport and infastructure.