Eight Midwest States Apply for High-Speed Rail Funding

By Lindsey Miller in News on Sep 24, 2009 9:40PM

Eight Midwest states are busy readying another high-speed rail project proposal in the hopes of getting a piece of the $8 billion in funding set aside by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The proposal, which is due Oct. 2, uses Chicago as a hub for a Midwestern high-speed rail system that would connect most of the major cities in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and Missouri. The trains would travel 110 mph, compared to a current top speed of 79 mph for most Amtrak trains in the area, according to an article by NPR.

As always, opinions on the proposal span the spectrum. Some believe the route should support faster, 220-mph trains, like the California proposal, which would link San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles, and San Diego (San Francisco to Los Angeles in less than 2.5 hours).

Some in Springfield don’t want the long talked about Chicago to St. Louis route to create more rail traffic through the already busy Third-St. corridor in Springfield. Craig Hinz at Crain’s Chicago Business says the current rail infrastructure between Chicago and St. Louis can’t sustain the traffic high-speed rail would bring, and the price to build a new track would increase the cost of the project significantly (from $500 million to $2.42 billion). And that’s not including the rest of the proposed lines.