Comfort of Maglev Train Ride Sways Delegation : Transportation: Orange County officials prefer the West German model over the French version, but the cost remains the bottom line of the local project.

Not long after Orange County Board of Supervisors Chairman Don R. Roth and a delegation of county officials, business executives and their spouses completed rides on West Germany’s magnetically levitated train and France’s Train a Grande Vitesse, Roth turned to the entourage and asked:

“All things being equal, which train did you like the best?”

The question was important because the California-Nevada Super Speed Train Commission, of which Roth is vice chairman, hopes to select by October either the German or French train for the proposed $4-billion Anaheim-Las Vegas route. Bids are due in July.

Eight other members of the bistate commission had journeyed separately to Europe for the same firsthand look at the two trains but apparently were equally divided about which ride they enjoyed most.

Not so the Orange County group.

The 21-member entourage voted unanimously for maglev.

“It was clearly the more comfortable ride,” said Aram Keith, president of Costa Mesa-based Keith Engineering, a would-be subcontractor on the Anaheim-Las Vegas project.

The maglev swayed less at full speed than did the TGV. Even banking at a 15-degree angle at high speed, passengers said the maglev vehicle seemed safer. The maglev’s seats were identical to those found in first-class on jumbo jets. The center aisle seemed wider than the TGV’s. Some rows of seats had pull-down conference tables between them.

Although Roth said he was impressed by the French TGV, he did not change his position--staked out prior to the trip--that the maglev was preferable, if only because it represents an “exciting new technology.”

Both the Germans and the French had wined and dined Roth and his entourage during their tour March 10-19.

The bistate commission paid for its members’ travel and lodging, estimated at about $20,000. Others paid their own way. The commission has been funded with $200,000 in tax money from the city of Anaheim, and contributions of $120,000 each in tax money from the city and county of Las Vegas, and another $120,000 from the Las Vegas Convention Authority.

The Las Vegas donors are being asked to contribute another $150,000 each this year.

Also, San Francisco-based Bechtel International, an engineering firm, has committed $3 million to preliminary project planning in connection with the West German maglev proposal. The French have not disclosed how much money they are spending on their preliminary plans.

At stake for both the Germans and the French are billions of dollars in sales of their technology abroad and an undetermined number of additional jobs for workers in their countries.

Both sides, however, have offered to assemble all or most of their high-speed equipment in the United States or Canada.

The Germans seem interested in using the Anaheim-Las Vegas project as a demonstration to promote sales elsewhere. On the other hand, the French appear to be more interested in a public-private sharing of costs in case expected profits fail to materialize.

“It’s a risky venture,” said Werner Menden, assistant secretary of science and technology in the West German government. “There’s great reluctance for anyone to be the first buyer.”

Menden praised the California-Nevada commission for being willing to consider the new maglev technology, but he acknowledged that some “bugs” remained to be worked out. However, he added, “the technology is ready to be used in revenue service.”

Roth agreed.

But other commissioners were not happy with Roth’s obvious boosterism for maglev. “If you went by what Roth is telling everyone, then the whole issue is already settled,” said state Sen. Bill Leonard (R-Big Bear), a member of the bistate commission. “That’s simply not true. Each train has its pluses and minuses.”

Some commission members simply are undecided.

“I was very impressed with the continuing progress that the French are making in carrying paying passengers,” said Bill Wells, dean of the college of engineering at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. “Their system is really working. But I’m also impressed with maglev. It is, I feel, the wave of the future.”

Wells and other commissioners have taken only short rides on the German maglev because test track conditions did not permit endurance runs on the days of their visits. Wells said the panel should return for an endurance run of several hours when possible.

Some commissioners argued that the French train has a demonstrated record of profitable operation and can tie into existing rail systems, while the West German government won’t even be ready to certify the maglev for commercial service until this summer. Thousands of hours of additional endurance tests at the maglev test track in Emsland, West Germany, are necessary for certification.

“That’s going to be a major consideration, I think, but I’m not sure of the full impact,” Wells said.

The maglev may be more environmentally--and thus politically--acceptable, commissioners said. While the 30-foot high concrete guideway the maglev train follows may be visually objectionable within some areas of Orange County, maglev uses less right of way and does not require major earth removal as do more conventional train systems. It also is quieter and uses less electricity than the TGV.

What it comes down to, Leonard and other commission members said, is the quality of the bids, which have not yet been prepared. So far, both French TGV and German maglev officials say they are having great difficulty putting together their financing plans, which must be part of their bids.

It’s difficult to tell potential investors that they may have to wait 15 years to see their money again, said officials from San Francisco-based Bechtel International Inc., a partner with West Germany’s Transrapid firm in the maglev proposal, and from the French National Railroad, which owns and operates the TGV.

In France, the TGV is financed with government-backed loans, which are being repaid more quickly than scheduled, thanks to hefty, passenger-generated profits.

With Japanese backing, Transrapid has been selected to build and operate maglev service between the Orlando, Fla., airport and Disney World. But the project has been stalled over real estate and business disputes among Floridians jockeying for favorable positions.

Transrapid has also won approval from the West German government to build a short line between the airports in Cologne and Dusseldorf so that airline service provided by each airfield can be complementary.

But the French have been able to sell the TGV to Spain and other countries, with billions of dollars in advance orders.

High-speed rail is being considered in many states, including Texas, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Ohio, New York, North Carolina and Washington.

A report by the National Research Council states that high-speed rail may become an essential component of the U.S. airport network.

Roth, Santa Ana Mayor Daniel H. Young and other Orange County officials believe that even if paying $104 for a round-trip ticket to Las Vegas at 300 m.p.h. is not a socially worthwhile goal, the project itself may be needed to promote use of George Air Force Base as a site for a new international airport. The military is closing the base and Orange County desperately wants another site to relieve overcrowded John Wayne Airport.

Leonard, the state senator from Redlands, is eager to see George AFB become a major airport. It’s in his district. He said he is less likely to support the Anaheim-Las Vegas high-speed train project without a commitment by officials elsewhere to develop George.

“It’s about jobs,” he said. “The train will ruin businesses along Interstate 15.”

But Roth and other officials said some of the job loss can be alleviated by putting a service yard for the high-speed trains in Barstow.

Also, Roth, Young and others see the Anaheim-Las Vegas project as a necessary anchor for a proposed light-rail or monorail system under consideration in several cities within the county.

“That’s the real equation we’re looking at,” said Costa Mesa Mayor Peter F. Buffa, who went along on the European trip this month.

The bottom line may have been revealed in an exchange between two members of Roth’s entourage as they rode the TGV to Rennes.

High-speed rail, said Newport Beach land investor Buck Johns, “will change the way we do business in Orange County.” And, he added, “it will change the way we do development,” referring to higher-density residential and commercial development needed near proposed mass transit lines.

“That’s the whole thing,” said John Kinley, president of Orange-based P&D; Technologies Inc., an engineering firm also interested in subcontracting work on the Anaheim-Las Vegas project. “That gives people more choices for housing than they have now, and an alternative to the automobile,” he said.

COMPARING THE TWO SUPER-SPEED TRAINS

MAGLEV Manufacturer: Transrapid (Krauss, Maffei, MBB, Thyssen Henschel) Where based: Munich, West Germany Partners: Bechtel, San Francisco Where in use: Test track, Emsland, West Germany Passenger capacity: Seven car carrying 100 to 180 each Speed: 186-310 m.p.h. (projected) Cost (double track): $15 million to $20 million per mile Technology: Electromagnets propel/levitate Pros: Quiet, non-polluting Cons: Higher costs, not in service

TGV Manufacturer: Alsthom Where based: Paris Partners: Bombbardier, Montreal Where in use: 84 French cities served Passenger capacity: Eight to 10 cars carrying up to 369 each Speed: 186-300 m.p.h. (projected) Cost (double track): $12 million to $17 million per mile Technology: Electric motors, steel wheels, rails Pros: Profitable service record, non-polluting Cons: Can’t take steep grades, noisier

* RIDING THE TGV: A reporter’s high-speed train adventure in France. B3