A full scale prototype of the passenger version is expected to be built during next three years. See status chart for details. Urban Magnetic Levitation Transit Technology Development Program . This program was announced in January of 1999. Eight proposals were received in March of 1999.
Additional details are available.
Seven candidate projects have been selected, one each in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Georgia, Louisiana, Nevada, California and Florida. FRA grants, combined with local matching sources, are being used to examine the technical, environmental and organizational merits of the seven projects. The outcome is a detailed and comparably designed Project Description of each proposed system that will allow the FRA to make an informed selection of one or more of them for further environmental review and engineering development. As noted above, Pennsylvania and Maryland were selected in January, 2001. This will not be the final decision however, as further environmental studies are needed before a decision to build can occur.