Bill Berg’s guest column (“High-speed rail, more casinos not the right answers for Illinois,” June 13) conveniently ignores the obvious facts in support of enhanced passenger rail in the Midwest.

Berg might consider St. Louis and Detroit to be nowhere, yet 22.3 million people visit St. Louis each year, and 15.9 million more go to Detroit.

Today travelers can choose from about 10 round-trip flights daily between Chicago and each city, or they can brave hours of bumper-to-bumper traffic to get there.

Mr. Berg may not be going, but the reasons to visit include organizations like Edward Jones, Emerson Electric, Scottrade and Washington University (St. Louis) and Ford, General Motors, Chrysler and the University of Michigan (Detroit).

St. Louis is also home to a dozen of Industry Week’s top 500 companies and Detroit boasts 14 other Fortune 500 companies.

Clearly, people do have reasons to go there, even if Berg’s limited view of business economics prevents him from seeing the benefits to making travel convenient and productive.

Trains are the only mode of transportation where speeds are consistently increasing, a key reason why Amtrak ridership has increased for 19 consecutive months.

— Kevin Brubaker, deputy director, Environmental Law and Policy Center, Chicago

Environmental Benefits

Midwest Network

ELPC’s Advocacy

Economic Benefits

The $8 billion initial investment in high-speed rail is expected to produce about 320,000 jobs and roughly $13 billion in economic benefit, according to published reports.

These benefits include construction and operations jobs, as well as manufacturing and supply chain opportunities. By increasing mobility while decreasing congestion and sprawl, high-speed rail makes our country more competitive while simultaneously spurring economic development.

Congress’ ‘Buy America’ program ensures that high-speed rail lines and trains will be built and operated using items made by American industries. Immediately after the high-speed rail funding announcement, more than 30 rail manufacturers and suppliers committed to establish or expand their United States operations if they are chosen to build America’s next generation high-speed trains.

Companies are already following through on that commitment (click for examples).

Beyond bolstering American manufacturing, high-speed rail will help communities prosper. Rail improvements have a rich history of positive economic impact (click for examples).

The economic impacts seen across the country show local projects can have big benefits on the surrounding area, while regional efforts are likely to generate a ripple effect.

Environmental Benefits

A nationwide high-speed rail network could mean 29 million fewer car trips and 500,000 fewer plane flights annually, according to a 2006 study. That would save 6 billion pounds of carbon dioxide emissions, the equivalent of removing a million cars from the road annually.

High-speed rail reduces our dependence on foreign oil, protects the environment and is an ecologically responsible way to utilize land and natural resources.

The environmental advantages continue to increase as more ridership goes up (click for examples).

Midwest Network

The Midwest High-Speed Rail Network will create reliable 110 mph train service with limited stops between Midwestern cities.  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. The Midwest-Chicago Network is a hub-spoke model that runs out of Chicago:

• One line runs north to Milwaukee, WI, before veering northwest to Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN.
• A second line runs south from Chicago to Springfield, IL, and St. Louis, MO, before veering west to Kansas City, MO.
• A third line runs south to Indianapolis, IN, where it branches into two lines, one running south to Louisville, KY, and another running to Cincinnati, OH.
• A fourth line runs east from Chicago to Toledo and Cleveland, OH. That line then runs south to Columbus, OH, before joining the third line at Cincinnati, OH.
• Finally, a fifth line runs east from Chicago to Kalamazoo and Detroit, MI.

ELPC’s Advocacy

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.

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.

To keep updated on our high-speed rail work, please visit our dedicated website, www.highspeedrailworks.org.

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