Bavaria to build Maglev train line in Germany

0 Comments | AFP, September, 2007

FRANKFURT (AFP) — Bavarian officials have found funds to build a magnetic levitation train with the backing of industrial groups, but more than half the region's residents oppose the futuristic and already fatal project.

Authorities in the southern German state said Tuesday they had finalised 1.85 billion euros (2.6 billion dollars) in financing for the automatic transport, which is to float between central Munich and its airport, 37 kilometres (23 miles) away.

Starting in 2014, travellers would see the 40-minute trip cut to just 10 by the driverless Transrapid, or Maglev train which is able to run at 450 kilometres per hour (280 miles per hour).

Munich's center-left government says the cost is too high, however, and 60 percent of Bavarians also oppose the...