Floating trains ... sounds like science fiction!" South Fayette High School sophomore Eric Wise declared when he and other gifted students visited Maglev Inc. facilities in McKeesport.

"Well, I saw the work with my own eyes," he said after touring the RIDC Park shop that holds the first 22-foot-long sections of guideway ever built in the United States for a magnetically-levitated, high-speed train line.

The huge, trapezoid-shaped beams with 1¹/₄-inch-thick steel were precision-fabricated by a large-scale robotic welding machine using computers and laser beams to control amazingly small geometric tolerances.

"The equipment was conceived, designed and patented right here," Maglev Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer Fred Gurney told Eric and a dozen other students enrolled in an apprenticeship program sponsored by the Pittsburgh chapter of the Pennsylvania Society of Professional Engineers in conjunction with the Allegheny Intermediate Unit. "To give you an idea of its capability, it can do in two hours what would take two days for two people to do."

If the federal government ever proceeds with construction of a national demonstration project, and if Maglev Inc. and its public partners are chosen for it, the company would produce thousands of guideway sections needed for the maglev line, boosting the local economy and spawning a new industry in Western Pennsylvania.

Even if sleek, aerodynamic trains racing through the region at 260 mph never come to pass for lack of funding and political will, Maglev's diversification into high-tech research and development should keep hopes alive and the corporation viable.

The mammoth robotic welding machines used to build the first maglev guideway beam also are capable of fabricating bridge beams and big-ship components with near-zero distortion.

Students observed engineers and technicians engaged in other new endeavors such as building a one-sixteenth-inch-thick stainless steel skeleton of an experimental stealth boat for the Navy.

From the academic standpoint, Maglev Inc. has partnered with Community College of Allegheny County, Penn State-Greater Allegheny and the Institute for Career Development to train people in precision steel fabrication to prepare them for manufacturing jobs of the future.

"If we're to be competitive in the world, we have to do things more economically," Mr. Gurney told the high school visitors. "You won't be slugging it out on dirt floors of a steel mill like your grandfathers. You're very capable young people with computer smarts."

The students visit places such as Maglev Inc. to give them background and insight so that they can make reasoned decisions about pursuing engineering careers, said Reyman Branting, a retiree who volunteers his time to work with the AIU's Gifted and Talented Education Program on behalf of the engineering society.

Those who heard from Maglev's top people, toured the state-of-art facilities and met college students engaged in computer modeling appreciated the opportunity.

"It was like getting a glimpse of what the future might hold," said Carrie Deutsch, a Pine-Richland High School senior. "We get a behind-the-scenes look at things, seeing what kind of work goes into huge projects before we get to college, which is awesome."

"The word 'engineer' is a broad term and sometimes a student doesn't know what it means to be one," said Joe Sadaka, of Cranberry, who's home-schooled. "The tour gave me a hands-on view."

"The trip to Maglev and previous other trips have helped me understand and appreciate the enormous effect engineering has on the world," Seton-LaSalle High School senior Peter Croke said

Others playing host to the gifted students this year are GAI Consultants Inc., HDR Inc., DMJM-Harris, Bombardier, Michael Baker Corp., Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority, the Army Corps of Engineers, University of Pittsburgh School of Engineering, Medrad Inc., Astorino and Pittsburgh Material Technology Inc.

The Maglev Inc. visit ended when the students and company officials gathered in a conference room for a "working lunch" fueled by pizza and soda.

"Conversation seems to flow better over food," Mr. Branting said.