Despite being shut out of the first wave of federal funding for high-speed rail, a proposal to build a magnetic levitation train system here continues to enjoy strong support among political leaders.

U.S. Sens. Arlen Specter and Bob Casey touted the 20-year-old project in a letter to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, in which they protested the state's meager share of $8 billion in high-speed rail grants that the Obama administration awarded this week.

Gov. Ed Rendell and U.S. Rep. Jason Altmire also voiced their continued support.

"The Pittsburgh maglev project represents a critical investment in a next-generation transportation technology that produces no emissions and uses a third of the energy of conventional rail," the senators wrote. "This project would create over 2,500 jobs including in the steel industry and in the building trades which have been hard hit in the economic downturn."

Mr. Specter and Mr. Casey plan to meet with Mr. LaHood on Tuesday to discuss ways to advance maglev and another rail project that got no money, completion of a Scranton-to-New York City passenger line.

Fred Gurney, president and CEO of Maglev Inc., the corporation overseeing the project, said Friday that it remains viable.

Because of a delay in the release of $28 million in federal funds earmarked by Congress and awarded by the Federal Railroad Administration last year, the company is down to four employees, he said.

A draft environmental impact statement, begun in 2001 and completed in 2005, has not yet gotten final approval.

Both matters are pending with the railroad agency.

Spokesman Rob Kulat said the environmental statement remains under review. Because of a backlog, he said he couldn't estimate when it might be completed. He was unable to provide information about the funding delay.

Mr. Gurney said release of the funding was stalled because the railroad agency's attention was on awarding the $8 billion in new grants. Thirty-seven states and the District of Columbia submitted $57 billion in requests for the money, which was part of last year's economic stimulus package.

Pennsylvania applied for $2.3 billion in stimulus money to start maglev construction, but Mr. Gurney said it appeared from the start that the grants would all go to conventional steel-wheel-on-rail projects.

"What happened was not at all unexpected," he said. "While it's disappointing that no maglev project got any of the funding, we saw the handwriting."

The project calls for a 54-mile system from Pittsburgh International Airport to Downtown Pittsburgh to Greensburg. Mr. Gurney said the severe decline in flights and passenger traffic at the airport has not diminished its potential.

"That's only the first link. We've got to start somewhere," he said, projecting that maglev technology could one day connect Pittsburgh with Harrisburg or Cleveland.

"Certainly (Thursday's announcement) wasn't the outcome we hoped for," said Mr. Altmire, D-McCandless.

He said the project is the most advanced maglev proposal in the nation and "Pittsburgh could be a leader in this technology going forward." But the enormous cost -- estimated at $3.75 billion seven years ago and now certainly much higher -- will have to be justified in competing for funds with steel-wheel high-speed rail projects.

Mr. Rendell praised the Obama administration's funding decisions but said he hoped maglev was in line for future allocations.

Maglev Inc.'s board of directors has several heavy hitters, including U.S. Steel, Duquesne Light, the United Steelworkers, Carnegie Mellon University and the Pittsburgh Building and Construction Trades Council.

Backers continue to tout maglev as a technology that could evolve into a full-fledged Pittsburgh industry.

In their letter to Mr. LaHood, Mr. Specter and Mr. Casey complained about Pennsylvania's share of the money awarded on Thursday.

The state, which submitted more than $3 billion in requests, got $26.4 million -- most of it for improvements to the heavily traveled Harrisburg-to-Philadelphia rail line. The only money given to Western Pennsylvania was $750,000 toward a study of improving Pittsburgh-to-Harrisburg service.

"We are concerned that Pennsylvania, our nation's sixth most populous state and home to some of the country's most traveled roads and rails, will receive less than one percent of the $8 billion awarded for high speed rail projects," the letter said.

Olivia Alair, a Transportation Department spokeswoman, noted that $485 million was awarded in the Northeast.

"The Philadelphia-Harrisburg corridor is one of the busiest in the nation, and thanks to this investment, service will be extended to Pittsburgh and other communities in Western Pennsylvania," she said. "This is just the beginning for high speed rail in Pennsylvania."

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