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What Are the Benefits of an Aerial Tram Between Las Vegas and L.A.?

The Portland-based Sky Tram International argues that a traditional rail train would have too many problems between difficult terrain and long travel times, while an elevated monorail could eliminate such obstacles.

(TNS) -- A Portland firm is making a long-shot pitch to build a high-speed suspended tram as a commuter link between Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

The project envisioned by Sky Tram International founder Ben Missler calls for a 263-mile Las Vegas to Glendale route. The project would use monorail tracks elevated 50 feet off the ground, powered by solar and wind energy. Its passenger cars would, at least initially, be made from retired airplane fuselages to reduce the cost.

Sky Tram International will be one of three firms presenting to the Nevada High-Speed Rail Authority on Wednesday. Only one meets the requirements laid out in the state law that launched the transit project — and it's not the Portland company.

The law requires a project that uses regular old heavy-rail tracks, and that's no coincidence. It was proposed as an alternative to a stalled joint venture between Nevada and California that would have used maglev technology — electromagnets that elevate the train over the track, greatly reducing friction — after that was deemed impractical.

The likelier pick, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, is XPressWest, a company formed a decade ago to build the high-speed rail line. It's proposed a wheels-on-steel train that uses regular old heavy rail, which the bill authorizing the project requires.

Missler said he thinks he can convince the project authorities that heavy rail is outmoded technology.

"They're using 1860 criteria for the tracks," he said. "It's time to move up. We need to move into the 21st Century."

Elevated tracks, he said, would better protect the system from tampering while allowing higher speeds and negotiating terrain trains can't.

At 100 to 250 mph, which would approach the speeds of the the fastest commercial maglev trains, the Sky Tram would make the trip from Las Vegas to Anaheim, Calif., in 1.2 hours.

And, he said, it would be more cost effective, at $10 million to $15 million per mile to build.

There's no working prototype, but Missler said he's lined up a group of investors, engineers and manufacturers to create the system if Nevada is interested.

"It's better not to make a decision than to make the wrong decision," he said.

While the U.S. has struggled to build even a modest high-speed rail network, Missler isn't alone in conceptualizing a successor to rail transportation.

In 2013, Tesla and SpaceX founder Elon Musk penned a white paper proposing a 'Hyperloop,' a post-rail transit system that would connect San Francisco and Los Angeles. It would use pressurized tubes to propel commuters back and forth at up to 760 mph.

SpaceX has successfully resupplied the International Space Station, so Musk brings some credibility to an idea that might otherwise sound crazy. While he's not pursuing the idea, at least two unaffiliated companies have started work on such a system, one with a goal of starting construction next year.

©2015 The Oregonian (Portland, Ore.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.