High-Speed and Maglev

Parsons’ credentials in high-speed ground transportation include management of the Northeast Corridor Project, the only operational high-speed rail service in North America, as well as leadership in the nation’s development of magnetic levitation (Maglev) technology.

The 456-mile Northeast Corridor between Washington, DC and Boston fully integrates high-speed intercity passenger service with both commuter rail and freight service in the nation’s most densely populated region. For 14 years, Parsons led the planning, engineering, construction, and implementation phases of this landmark high-speed route as program manager. More recently the U.S. Federal Railroad Administration has selected Parsons out of a competition with 12 other firms to conduct work on the High Speed Rail Program in the Northeast Corridor, Eastern Region, Western Region, and Non-Site Specific areas. Parsons ranked highest in all four categories.

We are maintaining our 21st Century leadership role in advanced ground transportation technologies through a continuing prominent role in the nation’s Maglev program. Parsons was a member of one of four teams that developed U.S. Maglev system concept designs for the Federal Railroad Administration’s National Maglev Initiative. We were the principal consultant for the Federal Railroad Administration’s Commercial Feasibility Study, which established the framework for the ongoing Maglev Technology Deployment Program. Parsons developed project definitions for four of the seven selected corridors (Georgia, Nevada, California, and Louisiana), and continues to play a central role in the national initiative to build the first high-speed Maglev system in North America.

Some tools used in providing our solutions:

• A train performance simulator (TPS), called the MPC (Multi-Vehicle Performance Calculator) for very high-speed magnetic levitation trains. This software uses a framework similar to established TPCs for railroad and rapid transit systems, but has been extended to provide improved modeling of air resistance and 'magnetic drag' based on Parsons' work for the FRA's Magnetic Levitation Technology Deployment Program (1999-2002) and a 1998 report by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Using other software developed by Parsons to handle the infrastructure, we have developed a software package to predict any ground-based vehicle’s optimal trip time, provided we are supplied with the required information
• A detailed estimating framework for HSGT operating and maintenance (O&M) costs. A system of spreadsheets which estimate the labor, energy, purchased service and materials costs for more than 180 O&M activities for HSGT systems, rolling them up into five traditional railroad accounts: maintenance of way, maintenance of equipment, transportation, passenger services, and general/administrative. Originally developed for the FRA's Commercial Feasibility Study (1997), the framework has been updated, adapted and simplified for use in the FRA's Magnetic Levitation Technology Deployment Program (1999-2002) and for several HSR corridor studies. It now features a single sheet for customizing results to local labor, energy, and materials.