As part of the DEIS, the MTA has established the "Purpose and Need" of the Baltimore-Washington Maglev project. This section of the DEIS establishes why the agency is proposing to finance and build the project while at the same time causing environmental impacts. The Purpose and Need section is used to measure that the environmental impacts are acceptable based on meeting the project's purpose and need.

In 1998, the U.S. Congress established the Maglev Deployment Program (MDP) to achieve two separate goals: demonstrating the feasibility of an entirely new transportation technology while at the same time addressing the transportation needs of a particular area of the country.

The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is conducting a nationwide competition to select a location to achieve these goals. In May, 2001, the Baltimore-Washington Maglev Project was selected by FRA as one of only two projects, nationwide, that has the potential to best meet the MDP goals.

A Maglev system in the Baltimore-Washington corridor would provide high-speed, state-of-the-art transportation between Union Station in Washington D.C. and the Camden Yards area in Baltimore, with a station at BWI Airport and a potential station near the Capital Beltway. Maglev would reduce travel time between Baltimore, Washington and BWI Airport. The system is being designed to provide intermodal connections with urban, commuter and intercity bus and rail systems in Baltimore and Washington and BWI Airport.

Business, recreational, tourist, and commuter travel demands in the Baltimore-Washington corridor are projected to increase over the next 40 years. The Maglev system could help meet these demands for travel between both cities as well as to and from BWI Airport. With a Maglev connection between Union Station and the Camden Yards area, travelers to the region would be able to easily visit both cities as part of vacations. It can be expected that the addition of the Maglev system may induce even more tourists to travel to the region, because the Maglev system would become an attraction.

The Baltimore-Washington Maglev Project would demonstrate Maglev technology under the FRA's MDP through the operation of the dual track, three (or four) station system, use of high and low-speed switches and daily revenue service operations.

The Baltimore Washington Maglev Project could help to meet critical transportation, economic and environmental needs in the Baltimore-Washington Corridor that include:

• Meeting transportation demands from growing population, employment, tourism and air travel.
  
• Reducing congestion on area roadways.
  
• Helping to reduce the need for additional
  airport and highway construction.
  
• Supporting BWI Airport as a key economic
  engine of the State.
  Economic and environmental needs that could be addressed by the project include:
  
• Supporting Smart Growth principles by focusing transportation access to the revitalization area in Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., and reinforcement of investments at BWI Airport.
  
• Promoting tourism and convention activity, with a twenty-minute connection between the two cities.
  
• Supporting regional economic partnership.
  
• Supporting joint development and generation of employment.
  
• Reducing air pollution by taking cars off the
  road.
  
• Reducing dependency on gasoline through
  reduced travel on roads.