WASHINGTON—The U.S. Department of Transportation announced on Friday that it has canceled over $26 million in federal grants for the Baltimore-Washington Superconducting Magnetic Levitation (SCMAGLEV) Project, effectively ending federal involvement in the proposed high-speed rail line.
The decision was announced by Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy, who cited what he called “poor planning, significant community opposition, and tremendous cost overruns” as reasons for the cancellation. The project, which was estimated to cost nearly $20 billion, had faced numerous delays since the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) first became involved in 2016.
“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,” Duffy said in a statement.
The FRA’s analysis also concluded that the project would result in “significant, unresolvable impacts” to several federal agencies and properties, including those related to national security. Among the agencies listed as potentially affected were the National Security Agency, the Department of Defense’s Fort George G. Meade, and NASA.
The environmental review process for the SCMAGLEV project had been paused twice on the Federal Permitting Dashboard, remaining on hold since August 2021. The proposed MAGLEV train was designed to connect Baltimore and Washington, D.C., using magnetic levitation technology.
According to the department, the rescission of the grants does not prevent the future deployment of MAGLEV technology in the United States.
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