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Midwest Hub

Louisville, KY

Stop on the proposed 17,000-mile maglev network. Next stop: Lexington, KY (69.8 mi).

About Louisville

Louisville is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by population density, it is the 265th most dense city.

Source: Wikipedia summary (full article). Population and facts as published there.

Cost breakdown (proposal-scale estimates — see math)

⚠️ All figures below are parametric estimates scaled from the proposal's own budget ($8.5T ÷ 17,000 mi ≈ $500M per mile), not engineering quotes. Methodology is shown so you can check the math.
ItemBasisEstimate
Terminal constructionLarge-city terminal (parametric range $2-4B)$3B
Land acquisitionRegional factor 1.5× on $200M base$300M
Track: Louisville → Lexington69.8 mi × $500M/mi$34.9B
Annual operations (share)Staffing, power, maintenance$60M/yr
Stop total (excl. annual ops)$38.2B

Best terminal location (proposed)

The historic Union Station district downtown. Louisville's 1891 Union Station still stands downtown near the riverfront, with rail approaches that were never fully abandoned. The site sits beside the Slugger Field/NuLu entertainment corridor and TARC's bus network, giving the terminal both transit connections and a built-in visitor draw.

Before / after

Before and after aerial mock-up of the proposed maglev terminal at Louisville, KY

Aerial mock-up (illustrative, not an engineering rendering). Left: the proposed site today. Right: with the maglev terminal.

🛤️ Infill stops toward Lexington: the proposal envisions more stops than cities — smaller stations between majors. Plausible infills on this leg:
← All 287 stops