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Urban Maglev Demonstration 
General Atomics Progress Report

The announcement that the slow-speed maglev chassis is being prepared for full-scale testing means the four-stage project officially has left the research-and-development initial stage (completed last December), O'Loughlin said. The testing is being done in San Diego, Calif., which is the home of the project's day-to-day coordinator and keeper of the slow-speed maglev technology, General Atomics, a former Gulf Oil Corp. unit. Stage two is the full-scale test; stage three is the demonstration system at California University; and stage four, full deployment, or building 100-passenger vehicles in this region for shipment worldwide."

 http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/business/s_143152.html

Lesser-Known Maglev Gets Pennsylvania Push 
By Rick Stouffer, TRIBUNE-REVIEW, Friday, July 4, 2003 

Low-speed maglev, which doesn't get the attention of its faster, bigger sibling high-speed maglev, is moving forward in western Pennsylvania, says U.S. Rep. John Murtha. 

The Johnstown Democrat said Thursday that an $800,000 prototype of the so-called urban maglev chassis has been shipped to the West Coast, where it will undergo testing on a 400-foot test track now under construction. The testing over a 12-month period will prove the system's guidance, propulsion and levitation capabilities. The chassis was constructed locally by Ellwood City-based Hall Industries Inc. 

"There has been interest in this technology from around the world," Murtha said at a news conference yesterday at California University of Pennsylvania in Washington County. "The Federal Highway Administration is very interested in this technology, and once the testing has been completed and the demonstration project here at California University is running, we will manufacture the cars right here in western Pennsylvania, creating 300 to 400 good-paying jobs." 

Unlike high-speed maglev systems, which would connect great distances, such as Downtown to Greensburg and Pittsburgh International Airport, or a Baltimore-to-Washington proposed route, urban maglev is designed to operate at much slower speeds (generally around 50 miles per hour, vs. 300 mph) and to carry passengers in one specific area. 

At California University, elevated magnetic levitation cars would move students and townspeople on a track 2.5 miles long, with two tracks totaling 4.6 miles of track, said David O'Loughlin, president of Urban Maglev Group, the umbrella group for a number of private, primarily western Pennsylvania firms involved with urban maglev. Those companies include construction manager P.J. Dick, electrical contractor Sargent Electric, communication and signaling firm Union Switch & Signal and rail parts manufacturer Wabtec. 

The California University campus was selected as a demonstration site for urban maglev for a number of reasons, chief among them its willingness to serve as a testing site and its varied topography. "It's an ideal location; it's a convoluted campus with students on one end and classrooms on the other," Murtha said. 

With the federal government interested in both low- and high-speed maglev, 80 percent of the $188 million California University "Sky Shuttle" project will be funded by the federal government, with 16.66 percent coming from the state, and the remainder put up by the numerous private firms/investors in low-speed maglev, said O'Loughlin. The group already has spent $10 million of its own money getting to the initial testing phase. 

Murtha has requested $5 million in next year's federal budget for project design, engineering and environmental work, with $20 million of the state's $37 million contribution part of the capital budget. Murtha said he is confident the remainder of the state money will be forthcoming. 

The announcement that the slow-speed maglev chassis is being prepared for full-scale testing means the four-stage project officially has left the research-and-development initial stage (completed last December), O'Loughlin said. The testing is being done in San Diego, Calif., which is the home of the project's day-to-day coordinator and keeper of the slow-speed maglev technology, General Atomics, a former Gulf Oil Corp. unit. Stage two is the full-scale test; stage three is the demonstration system at California University; and stage four, full deployment, or building 100-passenger vehicles in this region for shipment worldwide.