Multi-functional Maglev: Treehuggers meet the Jetsons

From Treehugger.com, an intriguing proposal for post-petroleum multifunctional infrastructure – that would deliver gas, water and people via magnetic-levitation trains riding the pipelines:

“Mention “Maglev train” at your run of the mill urban planner’s dinner party, and you’d probably get laughed out of the room. High speed train projects in the US have flopped, foundered, and fizzled since the 60’s. But now, with oil shortages peaking over the horizon, and a growing interest in a hydrogen economy, The Interstate Travel Company(ITC) thinks that the time is right for a fresh attempt.”

Reminds me a little of the doomed “Supertrain” concept that Campbell Scott’s urban-planner character tirelessly promotes throughout Cameron Crowe’s “Singles”…