LAS VEGAS, July 3 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., says the maglev rail project that would have connected Las Vegas to Southern California is facing a dismal future.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal said Friday the U.S. senator has proposed that the $45 million allocated in a 2008 federal transportation bill for the magnetic levitation train project be used on other, unspecified efforts.
"Maglev is going nowhere," Reid, a staunch supporter of the maglev concept for the last three decades, said Thursday.
"I have personally arranged the appropriation of millions and millions of dollars, and it has gone to pay salaries and studies," he added.
Reid, who estimated the maglev project's final cost at $40 billion, still supports the proposed DesertXpress project that would connect Las Vegas and Victorville, Calif.
The Review-Journal said construction on the DesertXpress should begin in 2010 with its nearly $4 billion price tag likely covered by federal loans and private investors.
