Posted on 12/14/2004 4:25:14 PM PST by Willie Green
DES MOINES -- A high-speed rail network radiating from Chicago's Union Station through nine Midwestern states could carry 13.6 million passengers annually by 2025, according to a new report.
The Midwest Regional Rail System report released Tuesday confirms the viability of a 3,000-mile rail network stretching through Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio and Wisconsin, said Mark Wandro, Iowa's transportation director.
Trains would travel at speeds of up to 110 m.p.h., cutting hours off trips between major cities.
The study, led by Transportation Economics & Management Systems Inc., a Frederick, Md.-based consulting firm, said significantly reduced travel times, increased frequency of service, improved reliability and connections to other forms of transportation would be a big draw to passengers.
Wandro said the network would be phased in over a 10-year period at a cost of $7.7 billion for new equipment and track and signal improvements.
"This is an incremental and phased plan for improved passenger rail service. However, it will require significant federal funding for it to be implemented," Wandro said.
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
Build a railroad from Chicago to Evansville. They certainly hand out enough speeding tickets along Hwy. 41 to finance it.
Chicken feed.
(Rail ping!)
a good idea in theory, but who would manage it? Amtrak? If so, then it will never work - Amtrak is a disaster.
If it's estimated at $7.7bn, the true expectation should be $10bn. And if the true expectation is $10bn, it will end up costing $16-20bn.
And ridership will never hit expectations.
The state should not subsidize railroads. (19th C flashback!)
True. We are a nation of the automobile.
You heartless cynic - how dare you see through their claims and post the truth!
It might run through 9 midwestern states, but every tax payer will be subsidizing it.
The big dig exists only in Boston and we've all kicked in a buck or twenty.
http://www.dot.wisconsin.gov/projects/state/docs/railmidwest.pdf
Chicago is the Capital of this world.
We are a nation of the automobile...YES BUT what if you could out your car on that train like they do the chunnel?
This is a Public Apology to Willie Green, Texas Transplant has mistaken him for a Government in your Face all the time Liberal, my mistake, Please accept my apology.
TT
over a 10-year period at a cost of $7.7 billion
Then it shouldn't subsidize airlines, trucking, and the automotive industry either. Nor should it subsidize the oil industry on which all of those forms of transportation are based. The current state of passenger rail is a textbook case of what happens when the government interferes with private industry and subsidizes competition.
The Big Dig = Uncle Ted's gift to America. The gift that keeps on taking.
Imagine the kinetic energy of a 100-ton train going 110 mph leaving the rails. The death toll might not match the WTC attacks, but the headlines would.
The state should not subsidize business period. Corporate welfare is costs about $150 billion a year according the folks who have tallied up the tax breaks and subsidies that corporations receive.
High speed rail is a beautiful thing. I went from London to Paris is three hours flat on the Chunnel train. No hassle of getting to the airport, no crappy airline food, a great view of the countryside at 150 mph, no traffic jams to worry about.
Another consideration: we are running out of radio frequencies for communication with aircraft. When we do run out of frequencies, airlines won't be able to put additional planes to work, which creates a window of opportunity for high speed rail.
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