UP CLOSE / TONY MORRIS, president of American Maglev Technology: Only inches from liftoff

It takes a visionary, or a fool, to stick with a commercially sketchy technology for 15 years without a payoff. Tony Morris doesn’t play the fool.

He’s a Georgia Tech engineering grad with a dream that magnetic levitation technology is the answer to the world’s pollution and transportation woes.

If only somebody would buy the highfalutin thing.

Morris, president of Marietta-based American Maglev Technology, says he’s on the verge of his first real deal. The congested, polluted Los Angeles port is considering Morris’ maglev system —- an elevated freight mover —- for a 5-mile link between the docks and a Union Pacific rail line.

Maglev has been touted over the years as a sleek, 300-mph alternative to trains. But its cost, up to $100 million per mile, remains prohibitive. Shanghai, China, runs the only commercial maglev system in the world, and it reportedly loses money.

Morris, whose 200-acre field of dreams in southwestern Cobb County is equipped with 2,000 feet of elevated “guideway” and one passenger car, says he can build a system for $20 million per mile. Top speeds of 40 mph help lessen costs and technical problems.

Morris has been in the magnet-transit business since 1994. Well-publicized failures in Florida, where he started the company, and Virginia, at Old Dominion University, haven’t dimmed the entrepreneur’s belief in maglev technology.

Q: What makes you think you’re finally about to hit the big time?

A: We think this is our moment. Our investors are very happy. And $4-a-gallon gasoline doesn’t hurt our feelings any. Our country —- and emerging markets around the world —- is crying out for clean, green energy. People say, “We’re choking on our smog, we can’t get back and forth on the roads, and we need a new solution.”

Q: Yes, but isn’t maglev just the latest fad? The federal government and venture capitalists embrace alternative fuels, not necessarily alternative transportation.

A: In the last eight years —- and I’m not addressing politics —- there really hasn’t been any focus on the local, state or national levels on any transportation options. But people are loath to make the same mistakes of building roads for another 100 years. I used to get four or five e-mails a month about maglev. Now I get three a day. There’s a tremendous amount of interest in this, not only as a passenger service, but for freight movement. We realized as early as 1995 that freight could be one-third of our total revenues.

Q: You seem very optimistic for a man who has yet to seal a deal. Why?

A: We’re pursuing lots and lots of different projects. Emerging communities in Manila, [Philippines,] Jakarta, [Indonesia,] and Dubai [United Arab Emirates,] are screaming for transportation options. There are no shortages of places. Wheels on steel [aka trains] are too expensive to build. Our system is significantly less expensive to deploy and operate.

Q: What’s up with the Los Angeles port?

A: We are very close. We believe we will negotiate an agreement with Los Angeles. We hope to ground-break early next year. We would lease the right of way between the port and a rail line. We’d pay operating and capital costs —- $60 million for three miles. Our clients would be the shipping lines. It’d be cheaper [than trucking the cargo] and remove emissions. If the Los Angeles project gets going, our business plan is set for the next 10 years.

Q: Where will you come up with the money? How have you stayed afloat the past 15 years?

A: Our investors are mostly strategic. In the past, it’s been power companies. One of our largest investors is a Dubai-based real estate company that’s spent $15 million out here [on the test track near Powder Springs]. They see this as not only a transportation project, but as a smart-growth and development project.

Q: A power company, Lockheed Martin, the state of Virginia and the U.S. government invested in the Old Dominion project. What happened?

A: Unfortunately, we broke ground nine days before 9/11 and the federal money never came. That was the main problem. Everybody’s best intention was foiled by 9/11. Counting on federal money turned out to be a really, really bad idea. The lesson to me is that these projects should be totally privately funded.

Q: But there were also technical issues, I read, something about how the ride wasn’t all that smooth even at slow speeds.

A: Yes. [But] we’ve been much more focused over the last five years getting the technology exactly right. It’s not necessarily a leap of faith to do this.

Q: You don’t feel, at times, like Don Quixote?

A: This is really important work. Just because it’s hard doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. It’s not all been jousting at windmills. This is an opportunity to build a high-tech industry and solve social problems. For one shining moment, we can compete with automobiles. That’s what keeps me going.

THE TONY MORRIS FILE

> Age: 51

> Residence: Marietta

> Family: Wife, Garan; son, Jordan; daughters, Katie and Emily

> Hobbies: “I’m a technology wonk, that’s my hobby.”

> Favorite book: “Beach Music,” Pat Conroy

> Favorite movies (all-time): “Star Wars,” “Good Will Hunting”