Although a high-speed, magnetically levitated train line may be years away, if ever, possibilities are looking up a bit for Maglev Inc. and its partners who propose building a prototype segment between Downtown and Pittsburgh International Airport.

Both the U.S. House and Senate last week approved "technical corrections" to a federal transportation funding bill that will provide $90 million for continuing nationwide research and development of maglev technology. The legislation awaits the signature of President Bush.

Of that money, $45 million is to go to a group lobbying for a system between Las Vegas and California, while the other $45 million is earmarked for "existing projects east of the Mississippi River" -- Atlanta-Chattanooga, Tenn.; Baltimore-Washington, D.C.; and the Pennsylvania Project consisting of Maglev Inc., the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, the Port Authority of Allegheny County and Transrapid International, the Germany-based firm that has already built an airport line in China.

The Pennsylvania Project figures to get a chunk of the money, since the bill stipulates that the amount will be "what the secretary of the department of transportation deems appropriate."

"We're further advanced than the others and the only one who has submitted a Final Environmental Impact Statement," said Frank Clark, senior vice president of McKeesport-based Maglev Inc. "We're hoping to get approval of the FEIS this summer," which would be another milestone in the years-long effort to build the first piece of the project between the airport and Downtown and, eventually, east to Monroeville and Greensburg.

Originally, only one high-speed maglev was to have been built as a national demonstration project. Political influence has expanded the future financial commitment to two systems, one in the East and one in the West.

Maglev trains would be magnetically levitated, or float, on a mostly elevated steel guideway and reach a top speed of 260 mph.

For the first 15-mile phase of the Pennsylvania Project, stations called "magports" would be built at the airport, along Route 60 at a park-n-ride/commuter facility near the airport and Downtown near Mellon Arena.

The most recent cost estimate to construct the section is $1.9 billion, with $950 million to be provided by the Federal Railway Administration that has already granted millions of dollars in seed money over the past 15 years. The trains would provide what Maglev Inc. officials call a "magic carpet ride" for 20,000 people a day, at $5 each for a 10-minute trip.

"If we can do this in Pittsburgh, we get the jobs that go with it," Mr. Clark said. "Maglev can provide capacity that's equivalent to building a 10-lane highway between the airport and Downtown."

The required environmental, ridership and cost studies have been a six-year, $17 million exercise. If the federal government approves the final documents this summer as Maglev Inc. hopes, then it could receive a "record of decision" authorizing final design and other steps leading to construction if the partners can arrange financing.

Project officials were further encouraged after U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar, D-Minnesota, visited the Maglev Inc. facilities. He's the influential chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee that oversees funding for roads, bridges, rail, public transit and futuristic ideas like maglev.