Floating Train Could Make The Trip From DC to New York in 60 Minutes

The U.S. is trying to redefine travel in the northeast corridor by borrowing train technology from Japan. If successful, the trip from New York to Washington D.C. could be cut down to about a 60 minute ride.

The Japanese Bullet Train uses magnetic levitation to suspend cars four inches off the ground. The train, also known as the MagLev, can reach speeds up to 300 miles per hour.

“This is truly transformational and generation-skipping technology,” shared Fox.

The Department of Transportation has allotted $27.8 million to Maryland to test out the practicality of bringing a MagLev train to the U.S. If successful, the train could run between Baltimore and D.C. in just 15 minutes. The long-term plan would be to connect the whole Northeast corridor. If the plan follows through, the travel time from D.C. to New York would be drastically reduced.

As usual, the plan isn’t coming without some criticism, particularly when it comes to cost, but as the Federal Rail Administration explained, “shelling [money] out now would provide huge economic and quality of life benefits down the road.” The service from Baltimore to D.C. alone would cost about $10 billion dollars. Japan plans to help aid some of the cost, but the Federal Rail Administrators are convinced much more would be needed to see the project to completion.

“We’re going to have to dig deep, both public sector and private sector, but there is really no choice if we want to continue to see our economy growing in the future,” explained Federal Railroad Administrator Paul Nissenbaum.

If the plan plays out, the MagLev could be expected to start running sometime in the late 2020’s. See the plan for yourself here.