Washington, D.C., August 8, 2007 (LPAC)--With the Aug. 3 passage of the SAFETEA-LU Technical Corrections Act of 2007 the House of Representatives provided $90 million to the beleaguered magnetic levitation rail program. The bill, H.R. 3248, passed by a vote of 422 to 1, and includes many measures modifying the 2005 SAFETEA-LU transportation bill, which authorizes surface transportation projects across the nation.

As LPAC reported in June, it's Time to implement the nine U.S. Maglev Projects to create a 21st Century truly high-speed rail network in the U.S. This $90 million will merely keep alive four projects. It funds a proposed Primm, Nevada to Anaheim, Calif. route with 50% of the funds, and then splits the remaining 50% of funds between the three most advanced-stage routes East of Mississippi, i.e. Pittsburgh, Baltimore-Washington D.C., and Atlanta-Chattanooga. Another $1.6 million is included for a study on a maglev route from NE Pennsylvania through New Jersey and New York. The sum of money merely keeps the studies alive as full scale engineering and build-out requires multi-billion dollars.

It should be clear to Congress after the Minnesota bridge disaster on Aug. 1, that the nation must build a national rail network for the 21st Century, and stop loading up our highways with more and more traffic.