Stimulus Bringing High-Speed Rail To Chicago

Crain's Chicago Business:

After a decade of quiet tinkering around the margins, the dream of making Chicago the center of a high-speed rail network finally is taking real shape, thanks to a massive infusion of cash tucked into President Barack Obama's stimulus bill.

Big clout -- by White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, Sen. Dick Durbin, D, and other well-placed Illinoisans -- likely guarantees that the Chicago-based network soon will get as much as $2 billion for new track, rolling stock, high-tech signals, bridges and other fixes.

Read the whole story: Crain's Chicago Business

Comments

[westreal]

Been waiting for high speed rail in Chicago for decades. Everyone has them except the US. I love to take road trips because I get to travel through places I would never think of going to. But I would rather see the country from a speeding train than on a road trip or through a cloud bank.

[plutocrat03]

A gargantuan waste of money up front followed by a huge continuing subsidy for continuing operations in perpetuity. No US rail transport system has been capable of supporting its own operating budget., much less invest in the capital budget.

High speed rail requires a large dense population who will use it like in Japan or the US East coast corridor. Can you imagine how many grade crossings you will have to build to separate these trains from the surface roads? The number of potentials users is too small for this boondoggle.

Take the money and build the crossings needed to protect the motorists from the CN traffic an be done with it.

[BushBites]

No automobile or aviation system has ever been capable of supporting itself either.

What's your point?

[Thefamilyvan]

Chicago has been the hub of rail transportation for many years. Hopefully, it can be revived in its second life as a high speed rail hub! That would be great for the country and for the city of Chicago.

[chiguy2004]

The world is way ahead of us when it comes to high speed rail travel, and I think that's not so cool.

I lived and worked in Seoul, South Korea, for one year. One aspect I really loved about South Korean society was their reliance on high speed rail travel. With all the fuss and growing inconveniences involved with air travel, the rails gained a lot of validity as a legitimate and efficient way of getting from Point A to Point B. I was able to travel from Seoul to Busan (about the same distance as Chicago to Detroit) in 2 hours 45 minutes. Driving time between Seoul and Busan is at least 5 1/2 hours, much more with traffic, as they're located on opposite ends of the peninsula, which sounds like quite a trek. But I actually felt encouraged to go, because of the ease of getting there.

Now, if we can foster that same sense of ease here in the States, regional high speed rail hubs could be a HUGE boon to the economy. Looking for some excitement for a weekend? Take the train to Chicago! Looking for a respite from the city? Take the train to small town America! Great possibilities.