Tubular Rail train makes Perfect Pitch's top 50

[FayeforCure]

Tubular Rail, a futuristic train technology that operates without conventional rail tracks or bridges, was among the top 50 new, bright ideas selected last week by a group of accredited investors and entrepreneurs in California called The Perfect Pitch 2009

Perfect Pitch 2009 announced last week that it narrowed its selection of projects from the more than 1,000 that were submitted to 50 and will whittle that number further to 3 lucky contestants, who will be present when Sir Richard Branson, the energy, talent and money behind Virgin Air and other successful ventures, keynotes the group's meeting in Marina del Rey, CA on October 26th.
Tubular Rail Inc., a small Texas technology company with a big idea it believes will revolutionize how we think about trains when its prototype is built, likely in a transportation test area close to the small scrub-brush town of Pecos, TX, has tried with little success to court Ohio transportation and development officials since mid July of 2008.

Meanwhile, the same officials have spent millions to gather support for a slow train to the past whose start up costs for a train whose average speed will be 57 miles per hour now totals $564 million and whose timetable for actually running could be years away, given that rolling stock like engines and passenger rail cars, are not now available and may not be for years to come.

Tubular Rail officials say its fast, energy efficient and grade separated system can be up and running in under two years.

Ohio's application, due last Friday, will be further complicated by the Federal Railroad Administration, the federal agency evaluating the many proposals from states who have visions of high speed trains running in their heads, due to its criteria that will reward states like California and Florida who have plans and funding in place over states like Ohio which fall flat on both criteria.

Ohio has not had a passenger train running diagonally from Cincinnati to Cleveland in nearly 50 years, even though the same route was running in 1852, two years after train tracks were first laid in Ohio.

Sonzala is hopeful Tubular Rail will be one of the top 3 ideas that will be presented in California later in October.

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-23537-Columbus-Government-Examiner~y2009m10d4-Tubular-Rail-train-makes-Perfect-Pitchs-top-50-but-mostly-ignored-by-Ohio-jobs-transport-officials