From the B&O Railroad to the USS Constellation, Maryland has long been a pioneer of innovation in transportation. Being the birthplace of the American railroad, Baltimore has a history of transforming the city and the lives of the people in it.
The superconducting Maglev project will provide Maryland with the opportunity to once again lead the nation in transportation innovation. It will transform the way people live, work and play in the northeast region as Senior Vice President Ian Rainey stated at Transformers: Cities, a discussion with the Washington Post early this summer.
The first phase of the Maglev line, the Washington, D.C.-Baltimore connection, is expected to transport millions of passengers each year alleviating some of the transportation related congestion between the two cities and Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI).
This summer, Northeast Maglev had the pleasure of being a Bronze Corporate Sponsor for the Maryland’s Association of Counties 2019 Summer Conference (MACo) held in Ocean City, Maryland, August 14th – 17th. MACo is a non-profit and non-partisan organization that gives local businesses visibility while attracting over 2,500 of Maryland’s county leaders, legislators, state government officials, as well as commercial and nonprofit representatives.
The MACo 2019 theme, “Winds of Change” focused on governmental changes and what counties and companies across Maryland are doing to improve the livelihood of all Marylanders. Topics included: transforming approaches to economic trends, climate change, land use, millennials in the workforce, education and many others.
Northeast Maglev sponsored the conference bags, which were a hit for stuffing informational material and goodies from all 250 MACo exhibitors. The team also staffed a booth in the exhibit hall to to share the project with attendees and detail how we plan to reshape what travel looks like across the Northeast Corridor. We had some fun surprise guests stop by and were always excited to see who would show up next.
If you didn’t have a chance to stop by our booth, you missed out on some of our cool giveaways. We kept our messages soaring with personal fans which displayed LED messages about the project and recycled plastic frisbees, while staying the talk of business meetings with our convenient sticky note books and orange pens. Our Northeast Maglev branded towels were a perfect accessory for the beach or Jolly Roger Amusement Park. We showed that there was a better way to cruise in the sun, than sitting in bumper to bumper traffic, with our convertible car and cool sun stress wobblers.
We couldn’t forget about our younger visitors, so we created Northeast Maglev Coloring Books, that included over 10 educational worksheets to help teach kids about magnetic levitation – and, of course, supplied crayons to go along with them.
Northeast Maglev’s project director, David Henley, had the privilege of speaking on behalf of the company with a well-attended presentation titled: Maglev and Maryland: Innovation, Opportunity, and Green Transportation. When asked about the opportunities Maglev will provide Marylanders David shared, “it will generate tens of thousands of construction jobs – diverse jobs, serving a diverse region and state.” He went on to say, “and when it arrives, thousands will stop driving and start riding, resulting in cleaner air for all. Next stop: the future.”
Our team really enjoyed speaking with many people about how they live, work, and commute in Maryland, and who are excited to learn about what Northeast Maglev has to offer the region. We’re already looking forward to MACo 2020!