U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy has announced that the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) will cancel two grants totaling over $26 million for the Baltimore-Washington Superconducting Magnetic Levitation (SCMAGLEV) Project. After nearly a decade, Secretary Duffy is ending federal involvement in the project.
As part of its analysis, FRA also determined the project would result in significant, unresolvable impacts to federal agencies and federal property, including national security agencies.
“We want big, beautiful projects worthy of taxpayer dollars – including high-speed rail. This project lacked everything needed to be a success from planning to execution. This project did not have the means to go the distance, and I can’t in good conscience keep taxpayers on the hook for it,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy. “We’ll continue to look for exciting opportunities to fund the future of transportation and encourage innovation.”
The SCMAGLEV Project was proposed to be a high-speed rail project using superconducting magnetic levitation technology between Baltimore, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. The estimated capital cost to build this project is nearly $20 billion.
FRA’s involvement in the project dates back to 2016. Since, the project has experienced numerous delays and cost overruns. Since the grant was obligated in 2016, the environmental review process has been paused twice on the Federal Permitting Dashboard. It remained on pause from August 2021 until today.
In addition, indirect effects of this project would also impair critical infrastructure and ongoing agency missions. Government agencies harmed by this project would have included: the National Security Agency, U.S. Department of Defense and Fort George G. Meade, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, U.S Department of Agriculture, U.S. Secret Service, U.S. Department of Interior – Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service, and the U.S. Department of Labor.
The original announcement can be found here.