Midwest High Speed Rail
Bringing High-Speed Rail to the Midwest
The Environment Law & Policy Center has worked throughout its 15-year history to develop and promote a Midwest high-speed rail network that would link Chicago with other Midwestern cities through safe, convenient and comfortable 110-mph train service. Linking Minneapolis, Detroit, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and St. Louis with Chicago in a hub-and-spoke network, high-speed rail will improve mobility, create jobs and spur economic growth by pulling together the regional economy. It will protect our environment by avoiding pollution, reducing congestion, and counteracting sprawl by pulling jobs, people and businesses downtown into our central cities.
More than a decade of high-speed rail advocacy by ELPC and others has worked to turn the vision of high-speed rail into a reality. In 2009, the federal government awarded the first round of competitive grants to develop high-speed rail corridors in the Midwest and nationwide. This commitment to developing smart transportation has earned broad bipartisan support from elected officials, businesses, labor leaders and environmentalists.
Why High-Speed Rail?
High-speed rail is the cleanest, safest, most convenient option for regional transportation. For trips under 400 miles, high-speed rail is faster door-to-door than driving or flying for both urban and rural residents. Because trains are three times as fuel efficient as cars and six times as fuel efficient as planes on a per-passenger-mile basis, high-speed rail is the right choice to protect our environment and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Developing high-speed rail will create construction and operations jobs as well as manufacturing and supply chain opportunities. By increasing mobility while decreasing congestion and sprawl, high-speed rail will spur economic development and make our region more competitive.
Learn more about the benefits of high-speed rail.
What will the Midwest High-Speed Rail Network Look Like?
The Midwest high speed rail network will create reliable 110 mph train service with limited stops between Midwestern cities. Rail lines will connect Minneapolis, Detroit, Indianapolis, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and St. Louis with Chicago in a hub-and-spoke network.
Modern locomotives, comfortable passenger cars and improved train stations will ensure that the high-speed rail travel experience is comfortable and convenient, as well as fast. While some states are researching European style 220 mph train service, upgrading existing track to 110 mph service will generate the biggest return on investment – creating competitive travel times and attracting large numbers of passengers for a much smaller price tag than higher speed service.
Read more about what the Midwest high-speed rail network will look like.
Moving From Vision to Reality
The exciting process of transforming America’s transportation system through high-speed rail has begun. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) awarded $8 billion in early 2010 to fund high speed rail projects – the Midwest received 2.62 billion of this funding to develop and improve service from Chicago to St. Louis, Chicago to Detroit, Milwaukee to Madison and Cleveland to Columbus and Cincinnati. The Transportation Infrastructure Grants for Economic Recovery (TIGER) program invested in important passenger and freight rail projects. The 2010 federal budget includes $2.5 billion for high-speed rail. The upcoming Transportation Reauthorization will make significant, multi-year investments in high-speed rail development.