After nearly a decade of planning, the U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy recently announced that the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) will cancel two grants totaling over $26 million for the Baltimore-Washington Superconducting Magnetic Levitation (SCMAGLEV) Project.
The SCMAGLEV Project was proposed as 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.
According to a USDOT release, the FRA’s involvement in the project dates back to 2016, but the project has experienced numerous delays and cost overruns. Since the grant was obligated in 2015, the environmental review process has been paused twice on the Federal Permitting Dashboard. It remained on pause from August 2021 until August 1, 2025.
As part of its analysis, FRA determined the project would result in significant, unresolvable impacts to federal agencies and federal property, including national security agencies.
Government agencies harmed by this project would have included: the National Security Agency, U.S. Department of Defense, 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, National Park Service, and the U.S. Department of Labor.
“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. “We’ll continue to look for exciting opportunities to fund the future of transportation and encourage innovation.”
According to the release, rescission of the NOI does not prevent the future deployment of MAGLEV technology in the U.S.
