Planned D.C.-Baltimore bullet train proposes three routes

By mid-2019, there are hopes to have a bullet train route between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Maryland, approved with designs completed later that year. If approved, the route would allow travelers’ journey between both cities to only take 15 minutes.

It looks like there are three routes that have been proposed so far. UrbanTurf reported:

“The main route that has been publicized would have a station in either the Mount Vernon Square/Chinatown area or near NoMA/Gallaudet Metro station, a stop at BWI Marshall Airport, and a final stop in either the Westport, Port Covington or Federal Hill/Inner Harbor neighborhoods. The tunnels for the routes could either run alongside the Baltimore-Washington Parkway or parallel a portion of Amtrak’s lines.”

Once the route is completed, there are plans to extend it further north to New York City. There are also plans to link Los Angeles with San Francisco and Dallas with Houston.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the bullet train uses a magnetic levitation, or maglev, technology. It has been able to reach a record speed of 603 kilometers per hour. The fastest speed that the U.S.'s Acela Express train has reached is 240 kilometers per hour.

In November 2015, the U.S. Transportation Department awarded a $27.8 million grant to conduct studies on the Baltimore-to-D.C. line with hopes to make the project a reality. The 40-mile line is estimated to cost at least $10 billion with the majority of the funding from both public and private sources. Already, the Japanese government has pledged $5 billion, while the Federal Railroad Administration rejected Maryland's bid for $1.7 billion.

• From DC to Baltimore in 15 Minutes: Three Proposed Routes for High-Speed Train [UrbanTurf]