Funds Found for Transrapid

The German-designed Transrapid magnetic levitation train will be the first of its kind in Europe and trim the current 40 minute journey from Munich to the airport down to 10 minutes. But concerns remain over the project's 1.85 billion euro ($2.6 billion) price tag.

Money to build the Transrapid will come from the European Union, Germany's federal government, the Bavarian government, the Munich airport, Germany's state-owned Deutsche Bahn (DB) rail company and German companies. The major participants reached a deal on the financing late Monday, Sept. 24.

The Transrapid will hover on a track above the ground and will travel at speeds up to 450 kilometers (280 miles) per hour. The 37-kilometer (23-mile) route is scheduled to be completed by 2014.

Technology made in Germany

The project is seen by critics as a "parting gift" for Bavarian Premier Edmund Stoiber, who heads the conservative Christian Social Union, the Bavarian sister party to Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU). After 14 in power, Stoiber will step down next month.

Stoiber denied that the Transrapid was being done as a personal favor, saying Tuesday that the project was the "guiding light for high technology made in Germany."

German engineering giants Siemens and ThyssenKrupp developed the project. So far, the technology has not been broadly adopted due to safety concerns. In September 2006, 23 people died and 11 were injured when a Transrapid crashed into a maintenance vehicle during a test run near the western German city of Osnabrück.

Currently only China has an operational Transrapid track. It runs between Shanghai and the city's airport.

Government warns of cost overruns

As part of the deal, the German government will pay no more than 925 million euros for the magnetic levitation train and has stipulated it will not be responsible for cost overruns. Germany's Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück voiced his continuing opposition to the project Tuesday, saying that it will be much more expensive than originally planned.

"The project will be considerably more expensive," the Social Democrat was quoted saying in the Tuesday edition of the Stuttgarter Nachrichten newspaper. "The costs will definitely not stay at 1.85 billion euros."

In his former position of premier of North Rhine-Westphalia, Steinbrück quashed a proposal to build a similar project.

The city of Munich is also unhappy about the Tranrapid. Munich's socialist mayor, Christian Ude, said he will fight in court against the plan.

"Naturally, the regional capital of Munich will initiate legal measures against the plan's official approval," Ude was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.

While this week's financial agreement was an important step, CDU expert Steffen Kampeter said it doesn't mean the project will get a green light in the end.

The recent agreement brought the project "nearer to being financially viable," Kampeter told the DPA news agency Tuesday in Berlin.

"The devil is in the details," he said.

Stoiber said he was confident the project would go forward despite ongoing opposition.

"Nobody will reverse this step," he said Tuesday.