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.

Howard Learner

ELPC convened a panel of experts at the National Press Club on February 4, 2010 to review the economic, environmental and regional ramifications of the Obama Administration’s high-speed rail stimulus awards.  “The $8 billion awarded by the Obama Administration is the first step,” said ELPC President Howard Learner, who moderated the Press Club event. “It’s the beginning of a restructuring of the transportation system for the 21st Century.”

The panelists included:

Anne Canby, President, OneRail Coalition

Arthur Guzzetti, Vice President for Policy, American Public Transportation Association

John Horsley, Executive Director, American Assoc. of State Highway and Transportation Officials

Joseph McHugh, VP Government Affairs/Communications, Amtrak

John Risch, Alternate National Legislative Director, United Transportation Union

Listen to the Briefing

Click here to listen to audio of the press briefing, or the question-and-answer session.

Click here to view photos from the event

The 13 projects chosen represent critical first steps toward building a modern, national, passenger rail infrastructure and are the first significant passenger rail investments in nearly a century. These projects encompass 31 states. They enhance connectivity through a variety of technologies in the most environmentally responsible mode of regional transportation, noted Howard Learner, ELPC president.

“This is the beginning of transformative improvement to our nation’s transportation system, giving people a modern, fast, comfortable and convenient travel option,” stated Learner. This funding will put people to work while it improves our environment, strengthens key regions of our nation and enhances our ability to compete in the global economy.“

ELPC will host a National Press Club press briefing Monday, February 1, in Washington, D.C. to review the expected impact of the high speed rail investments. Panelists include Arthur Guzzetti, American Public Transportation Association, John Risch, United Transportation Union, and Thomas Simpson, Railway Supply Institute. The panel will be moderated by Howard Learner.

Currently, the Obama Administration’s total commitment to high-speed rail stands at $10.5 billion, with an additional $1 billion per year pledged to be included in the budget for the next five years. The House transportation committee has also recommended including $50 billion for high-speed rail development in the upcoming transportation reauthorization.

“Today’s awards are only the first step in a long-term process. Significant additional federal funding will be required if we are to truly realize the benefits of modern rail and compete in the global market,” Learner concluded.

To learn more about the Environmental Law & Policy Center’s high-speed rail advocacy, visit elpc.org/highspeedrail

As America embarks on its first investment in passenger rail in decades, it is important to remember that the strength of our transportation system lies not in single corridors, but in networks. The less reliant we are on a single corridor or mode, the stronger our transportation system.

Thus, when critics of high-speed rail point to the small portion of Americans who will use a particular train, they are missing the point.

Many components of America’s transportation infrastructure with local and regional, if not national, significance carry only a small percentage of regional travelers or trips:

• America’s busiest airport (Atlanta) handles only six percent of domestic boardings. Dallas, Denver, and Los Angeles each handle less than three percent.

• Interstate 494 in Minnesota serves popular destinations such as the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, the Mall of America, and growing suburbs. Yet only seven percent of all trips made in the Twin Cities metro region utilize I-494.

• The Capital Beltway, the busy circumferential highway dividing Washington, D.C., from reality, carries less than 11 percent of area commuters. Replacing a single bridge along this road cost $2.5 billion.

• On a typical business day, only 2 percent of people entering Manhattan’s Central Business District drive over the Brooklyn Bridge.

• And on the West Coast, trans-San Francisco Bay trips through the Bay Bridge Corridor, across the San Mateo Howard Bridge and over the Dumbarton Bridge comprise only 4 percent of all regional trips.

Nobody would seriously suggest that any of these pieces of transportation infrastructure is “wasteful” because it serves such a small portion of its potential users. Let’s not let critics go unchallenged in saying the same about rail investments.

This vision, shared by ELPC and many of our allies, is quickly coming into focus.

Explore the items below to learn more:

Watch video highlights from the evening program

View a photo slideshow from the celebration

Check out our interactive high-speed rail story

Download a special high-speed rail publication

Vision to Reality: Getting Onboard Midwest High Speed Rail from gwstv on Vimeo.

This interactive online presentation, displayed at the event, features images, maps, and facts highlighting the need for a Midwest High-Speed Rail Network. Click here to view

Learn how ELPC’s and our allies’ many years of hard work are making the difference in the fight to turn the vision of a regional high-speed rail network into a reality for all Midwesterners. Click here to download the PDF

Midwestern states collaborated to apply for funding for the Midwest High-Speed Rail Network. The coordination among the Midwest states and the years of work by ELPC and other groups puts the Midwest in an excellent position to compete for high-speed rail funding.

ELPC hosted a special webinar on September 1st to highlight what’s at stake in the initial cycle of federal funding for high-speed rail, summarize the proposed Midwest high-speed rail projects and describe what to expect as we move closer to realizing our goal of high-speed rail in the Midwest.

The webinar, which ran 30 minutes and included audience questions, featured ELPC Executive Director Howard Learner and Deputy Director Kevin Brubaker.

Watch and listen to the webinar.

Send a letter thanking your Midwest Governor for leading the push to make high-speed rail development a reality!

“…For many years, federal and state taxpayers have provided trillions of dollars of support for highways, airports and air service. It’s now time for public investment in high-speed rail service to provide a third intercity transportation option that works better. According to an economic study conducted for the Midwest state Departments of Transportation, the new Midwest high-speed rail network can create 57,000 permanent new jobs across the region, produce more than a billion dollars in additional household income, and spur almost $5 billion in private new development near Midwest rail stations. Let’s seize the opportunity to capture these benefits.”

Read the full OpEd.

He writes that we need cooperation and continued commitment across the region to bring the benefits of high-speed rail  to the Midwest. 

“ Working together, we can create a win-win-win for our region: good for jobs and our economy, good for the environment, and good for people and our communities. Let’s get on board together and advance smart Midwest high-speed rail development on a fast track.”

Read the full Op-Ed

The world has changed. Just a few years ago, many people thought that high-speed rail development here was just a dream. Now, it’s moving to reality. President Barack Obama has made high-speed rail development his No. 1 national transportation priority 50 years after President Dwight Eisenhower advanced the build-out of the nation’s interstate highway system.

On July 27, eight Midwest governors signed a memorandum of understanding, committing to combine regional and state planning and development work, prioritize corridor build-outs and coordinate applications for federal funding. There is a new bipartisan Midwest Congressional High-Speed Rail Caucus. The Iowa City-Quad Cities-Chicago rail line is gaining support and momentum, setting the stage for an extension to Des Moines.

This structural transformation of our transportation system will improve mobility with a new, fast, comfortable and convenient transportation option. It will create jobs and spur economic growth by pulling together the regional economy. It will protect our environment through less pollution, reducing congestion and counteracting sprawl by pulling jobs, people and businesses downtown into our central cities.

There is broad national support for high-speed rail development. Forty states have proposed 278 projects seeking $102 billion in federal funding. In addition to the $8 billion in federal economic-stimulus funding, the House has now appropriated $4 billion more for fiscal year 2010 and has proposed $50 billion in the federal transportation reauthorization legislation.

Here’s how Midwest high-speed rail can succeed:

- First, as Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph Szabo urges, we need “one region, one voice.” We should support a regional vision of a vibrant Midwest tied together by high-speed rail connections. Midwest governors are working together in coordinating their state plans and federal funding bids. The rest of us should support this vision and this cooperation.

- Second, let’s not let perfection stand in the way of progress. The Midwest Regional Rail Initiative’s ultimate vision includes 3,000 miles of passenger rail serving 65 million people in nine Midwest states. With a vision this ambitious and complex, there will be details that are less than perfect. Let’s not permit controversies over particular stations, routes or speeds stand in the way of a united front and overall progress.

- Third, the Federal Railroad Administration’s rules for the federal economic-stimulus funding competitive bids make clear that this isn’t only about trains. This is about mobility. This is about job creation. This is about economic development, growth and revitalization. This is about livable communities, less pollution and a better environment.

In moving to realize this big vision, let’s also focus on synergies to make these rail investments succeed. Let’s invest in train stations, as Milwaukee, St. Louis and St. Paul are doing. Let’s bolster transit, bus, taxi and airline connections so that rail stations can serve as truly intermodal hubs of economic activity. Let’s creatively build up vibrant communities around train stations. Let’s rebuild the rail manufacturing industry, and expand use of cleaner biofuels as Govs. Chet Culver and Pat Quinn are discussing.

Working together, we can create a win-win-win for our region: good for jobs and our economy, good for the environment, and good for people and our communities. Let’s get on board together and advance smart Midwest high-speed rail development on a fast track.