Development of Cal U Maglev system progresses
U.S. Rep. John Murtha (left) and California University of Pennsylvania President Dr. Angelo Armenti Jr. look at a scale model of a Maglev. CALIFORNIA – Plans for a Maglev transportation system at California University of Pennsylvania are closer to becoming a reality, according to U.S. Rep. John Murtha.
Murtha (D-Johnstown) said Thursday that the prototype vehicle chassis built in the Pittsburgh area is on its way to a test track in San Diego. The testing should take about a year and then should be ready for installation at Cal U for the demonstration project.
“It’s a $188 million project. We asked for $5 million in the budget this year. Most of the manufacturing will take place here in the state of Pennsylvania,” Murtha said.
He said all of the $5 million in requested federal funds will be spent at Cal U for design, engineering and environmental studies.
“Hopefully, in a couple of years, we’ll have the groundbreaking for a very worthwhile project,” Murtha said. “This part of the demonstration project is to show how we can move students from one end of the campus to the other, and it’s a very convoluted campus.”
David O’Loughlin, president of the US Maglev, the project manager, said the first section of the 2½-mile Maglev track in California should be ready for construction in about 18 months. The entire double-track system, including five stations and four cars, should be operational within 4½ years. It will connect the riverside campus with the apartment-style dorms, athletic fields and Center in the Woods on Route 88.
“It’s the ideal demonstration location, with the uphills and downhills, 6,000 students and the senior center,” O’Loughlin said. “We’ve already done $10 million in research and development. That was completed around December a year ago. The next step is the 400-foot test track in San Diego. By this time next year, all of this will be proved out.”
Each rail car can carry up to 100 passengers, and cars will be available every two minutes on the Cal U campus.
The demonstration project includes nearly a mile at a 7 to 10 percent grade as the track runs along Route 88. Stan O’Loughlin, US Maglev’s assistant to the president, said that with enough power, the linear synchronous motor actually could lift the car straight up, like an elevator.
The Maglev’s magnetic motor is powered by electricity. David O’Loughlin said there will be emergency power supplies for the system, as well as a steam-powered vehicle to serve the cars in the event of a total power failure.
David O’Loughlin said the cars will travel 40 to 50 mph, though they are capable of traveling more than 100 mph. “It’s automated. There’s nobody in this thing,” David O’Loughlin said.
While the Maglev cars will have permanent magnets in them to levitate them about an inch off the track, the actual propulsion system is located in the guideway, or rail, making the cars extremely light and inexpensive to manufacture. Stan O’Loughlin described the propulsion system as a rolling magnetic wave.
David O’Loughlin said the magnetic system is completely shielded, so it will not affect electronic devices or people with pacemakers.
“We will also use solar panels on the vehicles themselves and on the stations,” David O’Loughlin said.
The solar power will be supplemental for auxiliary systems such as heating and air-conditioning. David O’Loughlin said the Maglev system uses half the power of a light rail transit system such as the one operating in Pittsburgh.
Murtha said he would like to see an urban Maglev system installed in Pittsburgh.
“I’m so impressed with what this will do. It will transport 6,000 people a day here,” Murtha said. “We see this as worldwide. We’ve had interest from all over the world. This is a very light system that can be put up very quickly.”
David O’Loughlin said the magnetic motor is extremely quiet, so the Maglev vehicles can run above ground, reducing construction costs and time over a subway system. The guideway is supported on concrete pillars 20 to 30 feet off the ground, and most components of the system are prefabricated.
“It’s an erector-set design,” David O’Loughlin said.
Stan O’Loughlin said the company manufacturing the columns can build one every two hours, making it a quick system to construct.
The federal government is supplying 80 percent of the funding for the project, with 16.66 percent coming from the state and 3.33 coming from private investors and Cal U. Pennsylvania already has dedicated $20 million to the project, Murtha said, and another $20 million has been requested.
He said Maglev development and construction could create 300 to 400 jobs in the region over the next several years. A number of regional companies already are involved with the project, including General Atomics, Mackin Engineering, P.J. Dick, Sargent Electric, Union Switch and Signal, Hall Industries and New Enterprise Stone and Lime.