Will Indy build rail transit to support downtown? (Indianapolis, South Bend: leasing, lofts)

[TheProf]

I visited Indianapolis a week ago for the 1st time and was pleasantly surprised. Was only there 2 days and stayed downtown, and wow. Downtown is vibrant, great hotels, great retail (a huge mall and nice retail, including my fave: a big Borders book store), clean, new, but with just enough touch of old (Monument Circle, warehouse lofts, the old train station), to give it character... But the train station caught my eye. It's gorgeous, huge and sits right on the edge of downtown. I went home, did Google Earth and MSN.live and was thinking, with such a great downtown, central train station and, most importantly, a bunch of rail right of ways radiating out from downtown in all directions, including Indy Motor Speedway, the Airport, zoo, Lilly Corp and Broad Ripple, to name a few, Indy could have the bomb light rail system. The city is flat. More and more people are moving downtown. This city has a potential "car free" future written all over it. Yet, as of now, there is no rail transit and, I guess, the only trains are a few daily runs to Chicago on Amtrak... Yes, I know this is the birthplace and home of auto racing. But this area's future should be in high-speed rail transit.

Can anyone educate/update me on the rail transit potential/situation in Indy? Rapid transit could boost a truly good Midwestern city into a great one. I’ve even got a name for it: IndyRail.

[REM]

People have been thinking of it for years, and i like the idea. but i don't know where the goverment stand on it...

[domergurl]

It will never ever ever happen. Which is sad. If you bring up riding a train to work to them they just look at you funny. They don't want to pay for it and they love driving their cars. The state government would rather build or widen roads. I suppose this keeps people employed over the long run.

[benjaminooo]

Originally Posted by domergurl

It will never ever ever happen. Which is sad. If you bring up riding a train to work to them they just look at you funny. They don't want to pay for it and they love driving their cars. The state government would rather build or widen roads. I suppose this keeps people employed over the long run.

Don't be so sure about "never."

A rail system won't take away jobs, if anything it will create jobs. Roads/cars will still exist, no one is forcing people to use a train. However there are more people than you think that would take advantage mass transit.

[TheProf]

I threw the Q out there for those of you who know Indy better than a 1-time visitor like me. This is a shame. If ever a town seemed ready to really explode, on the surface anyway, it would be Indianapolis. Obviously, the town is doing pretty good right now. I love Euro-feel of Monument Circle and all the high density and excitement downtown. But the lack of rail could really hold the city back from its true potential. Many of the freight rail lines radiating from downtown appear to be abandoned, including the key north route through Broad Ripple. Your town seems tailor made for rapid rail. People are attracted to cities with convenient and quality mass transit. It creates and sustains compact, mixed use neighborhoods that are attractive to pedestrians. That’s why it's amazing (and sad) what you guys are telling me...

I simply hate the American hard-headedness/backwardness towards local transit and inter-city passenger rail. Maybe, if we can continue to get the Republicans out of Washington --oops, I see you guys not long ago elected a young Republican to your statehouse whose swanky mansion, btw, would be served by a Broad Ripple LRT! I forget, too, that yours is an unfortunately very conservative Great Lakes state. That doesn't help matters.

Indy also has great access to Chicago (what, a couple hours?) by road and Amtrak. This could be used as an asset, too. Why not go for more spinoff travel from Chicago? It seems, from Amtrak's limited schedule, that this could be beefed up. The Amtrak line serves 2 college towns in Crawfordsville (tiny, prestigious Wabash College) and huge, tech-excellent Purdue. Seems commuter rail could be run from Lafayette/Purdue into amazing/historic Union Station. The line appears to also serve your huge international airport where a joint LRT, Amtrak and commuter rail station could be built... Think BIG you guys. Push your legislators, regardless of how conservative they may be. You once, after all, had a progressive Republican mayor, Hudnutt? (was that his name?)

You are, after all, the friggin' state capital and, by far, the largest city in the State (in 2 states if you could nearby Kentucky). You guys need to get on your legislators to get rail done in your fine city.

[Michelle Morris]

I think it's a possibility with all the talk of "going Green" and I thought I had heard talks of a possible monorail linking Indy to Chicago. That would be awesome! I wish they would take mass transit seriously around here.

[domergurl]

There was some mention of making a high speed rail line from Chicago to Cincinnati, which I would LOVE!!! I hate having to drive everywhere. In fact, when I go to Chicago, I take the south shore in from South Bend. I lived in Chicago for almost 10 years and am proud to say that I can count on 1 hand how many times I actually drove in the city ... I am such a mass transit gal and five years after moving down here, I'm still in mass transit withdrawl. I think there was another poster on here who I completely agree with, Indianapolis is a mass transit line away from being a world class city.

That being said, the high speed rail line is supposed to get from Chicago to Cincy in 2.5 hours with a stop in Indy. That would get me to my beloved Chicago in about 1.5 hours! You'd see me doing backflips from Columbus to Indy to get on that train!

I've taken Amtrak to Indy from Chicago and it's beyond horrible!!! Never ever on time and completely unreliable. I used to take Amtrak from Chicago to Milwaukee a lot and it was fabulous, but then again, for people in Chicago, mass tansit is second nature.

But, this is going to take a lot of convincing to get Hoosiers out of their cars. I can guarantee you that if it's ever put up for a referendum, people will balk, they'd rather pay higher taxes or say yes to leasing toll roads in order to make more roads to drive their cars on. I remember when we lived in Valpo, I always brought up how I hope someday that the south shore will come into Valpo. Know what responses I got? People think that the wrong element will move in if there is a commuter rail station close by! Can you believe that? Well anyway, that's my rant and I am still very pessimistic that Indy will ever support a mass transit line other than possibly upgrading Indygo. Oh, the state fair train from Fishers down to the fairgrounds is a treat once a year, but you'll never convince the Hoosier populace outside of NW Indiana that light rail transit is the way to go.

[TheProf]

Originally Posted by domergurl

There was some mention of making a high speed rail line from Chicago to Cincinnati, which I would LOVE!!! I hate having to drive everywhere. In fact, when I go to Chicago, I take the south shore in from South Bend. I lived in Chicago for almost 10 years and am proud to say that I can count on 1 hand how many times I actually drove in the city ... I am such a mass transit gal and five years after moving down here, I'm still in mass transit withdrawl. I think there was another poster on here who I completely agree with, Indianapolis is a mass transit line away from being a world class city.

That being said, the high speed rail line is supposed to get from Chicago to Cincy in 2.5 hours with a stop in Indy. That would get me to my beloved Chicago in about 1.5 hours! You'd see me doing backflips from Columbus to Indy to get on that train!

I've taken Amtrak to Indy from Chicago and it's beyond horrible!!! Never ever on time and completely unreliable. I used to take Amtrak from Chicago to Milwaukee a lot and it was fabulous, but then again, for people in Chicago, mass tansit is second nature.

But, this is going to take a lot of convincing to get Hoosiers out of their cars. I can guarantee you that if it's ever put up for a referendum, people will balk, they'd rather pay higher taxes or say yes to leasing toll roads in order to make more roads to drive their cars on. I remember when we lived in Valpo, I always brought up how I hope someday that the south shore will come into Valpo. Know what responses I got? People think that the wrong element will move in if there is a commuter rail station close by! Can you believe that? Well anyway, that's my rant and I am still very pessimistic that Indy will ever support a mass transit line other than possibly upgrading Indygo. Oh, the state fair train from Fishers down to the fairgrounds is a treat once a year, but you'll never convince the Hoosier populace outside of NW Indiana that light rail transit is the way to go.

You mustn't give up! Those negative types are counting on folks like you to give up. Combat their negative stupidity. Don't say: it'll never happen here... As I'm sure you know, people once derided your city as IndianNOPLACE. But because of dedication, cooperation and drive, you have a thriving downtown with some great neighborhoods people outside Indy know about, like Broad Ripple.

Also, forget about fancy, long-distant monorails and so-called "high-speed" trains to Chicago and elsewhere. Concentrate on something that's really doable; something the Republicans can't so easily shoot down. First, fix the Amtrak service you have. I'm in Cleveland. You guys are LUCKY to have daytime Amtrak service that takes just a few hours to a major, international world city like Chicago. Our service to Chicago comes/arrives around 3am and takes about 6/7 hours to get to Chicago. I would focus on Indiana state government to fund fixing up the tracks to achieve 110 MPH service using conventional trains. I believe something called the Midwest Initiative is doing that on a number of corridors in/around Chicago; yours may be one of them... Then try to grab some of Chicago's used commuter rail equipment (they're in the process of a widespread upgrading their Metra commuter rail equipment and are selling old stuff cheap; Memphis bought some)...

Then focus, again, on light rail. Like I said, you're blessed with: a) a great downtown, b) a great, classic old train station right near the heart of town (walking distance), c) a very flat city, cheaper, easier to build light rail on with minimal or no tunneling and d) a bunch of largely abandoned freight rail lines (some converted to hiking/jogging/biking trails, it appears, that cut through major areas, like slicing right through the North through popular Broad Ripple and beyond.

Don't take NO for an answer and, for gosh sakes, don't give up before you've even tried.

[REM]

domergurl just a random question what do you do for a living?

[benjaminooo]

Originally Posted by TheProf

Don't take NO for an answer and, for gosh sakes, don't give up before you've even tried.

amen! I will never settle when it comes to my city!