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Possibility Of High-Speed Trains Between D.C., Baltimore Firms Up

BALTIMORE (WJZ)-- Maglev trains running between Baltimore and D.C. are far from certain, although a potential route is firming up.

Right now in Maryland, the possibility of Maglevs, high-speed trains that float on magnets, is still more drawing board than "all aboard."

But backers think they have found the best route with the Baltimore-Washington Parkway. Not the road or the median, but the eastern edge of I-295.

State legislators have been told it presents the least disruption to existing infrastructure and communities, especially since most of a Maglev route would be in tunnels.

Nearly $28 million in federal funds are going into design studies like the parkway route, and $5 billion has been pledged by the Bank of Japan toward construction. But another $5 billion must still be found to meet the $10 billion a Maglev line would cost to build.

Maglev supporters are hoping federal funds will be made available, and project a groundbreaking is possible by 2020, with construction taking seven years.

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