Midwestern High Speed Rail Network - Chicago thoughts? (Springfield, Joliet: crimes, tornadoes)

[DarkWolf]

The First line in my opinion will be the St. Louis - Chicago line , Followed by the Chicago - Milwaukee - Madison - Rochester - Minneapolis line then the Chicago - Gary - South Bend - Toledo - Cleveland line.....

[sprtrpr]

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

http://www.midwesthsr.org/sites/defa...cal_Report.pdf

I do believe we will see a Chicago HSR network by 2050 connecting to Cleveland , St. Louis and Twins Cities. The rest of the Midwestern Cities will get at least 125mph service. The Flat landscape of Midwest makes Constructing the HSR cheaper and faster to build as opposed to the Northeast or Cali. So what do Windy city residents think about the future HSR system? You won't see anything big intill the 2020s...aside from 110mph corridors....

We could really benefit by a Chicago - St. Louis and a Chicago - Milwaukee train line. Although it would be best if it was all connected.

I am a little concerned with the lack of a train line to some of the cities.

And 90mph is not that fast so that I do not like being so slow. As far as the Chicago to St. Louis going through Champaign being faster than the Chicago to St. Louis route going through Bloomington-Normal, I think that is foolish.

But in any case it is a long time coming.

[DarkWolf]

Both plans call for Private and Public funding , i'm assuming they'll do the cheaper parts of the system. While the Chicago Core upgrades will be done by public. The Whole 220mph Network will cost 68.7 Billion $ spread over 5 lines....at least several private companies and all the states in the Midwest have done HSR studies. All of them say the ridership is there , and if done right the lines would be fully paided off within 10-15 years , they would also generate and operate on profits much like the Acela , TGV , ICE or JR East Trains.

[css9450]

Originally Posted by Nexis4Jersey

Both plans call for Private and Public funding , i'm assuming they'll do the cheaper parts of the system. While the Chicago Core upgrades will be done by public. The Whole 220mph Network will cost 68.7 Billion $ spread over 5 lines....at least several private companies and all the states in the Midwest have done HSR studies. All of them say the ridership is there , and if done right the lines would be fully paided off within 10-15 years , they would also generate and operate on profits much like the Acela , TGV , ICE or JR East Trains.

Profitable? I'm very skeptical. Got a link to those studies? I could see wasting 68 Billion just to get by the NIMBY and environmental lobbies. If there was profit to be made, wouldn't someone (Amtrak or otherwise) have built it already?

[DarkWolf]

Originally Posted by css9450

Profitable? I'm very skeptical. Got a link to those studies? I could see wasting 68 Billion just to get by the NIMBY and environmental lobbies. If there was profit to be made, wouldn't someone (Amtrak or otherwise) have built it already?

Well theres so many regulations that has scared away the Private investors up intill 5 years ago which when they launched all there studies. The faster you go and if theres a decent amount of ridership the more revenue you generate... Which is why the Acela operates on Profit , and some many other HSL's around the world. You don't that much ridership to breakeven , its usually only 6,000 daily... I doubt the NIMBYS in the Midwest are that powerful , considering how many highways you guys you build out there or other large scale projects. Amtrak doesn't have enough power as is to do any , so it would be up to a state to find someone to do it. If you read the originally link it should be in there , otherwise it was on the MNDOT study...

[linicx]

Excellent point. I don't think Amtrak has ever been self-supporting in the Midwest. I don't think it ever will be simply because the Midwest is in food production. There is a lot of land in crops between the many very small towns. The only train stops here are commercial in nature.

Amtrak bypasses a nearly half-million population in Illinois in favor of smallish colleges.

On the East coast? Amtrak probably doesn't need the infusion of DC cash because It has a larger, ridership and far more in teresting destinations: NYC, DC, Miami, Key West, etc..

Originally Posted by css9450

Profitable? I'm very skeptical. Got a link to those studies? I could see wasting 68 Billion just to get by the NIMBY and environmental lobbies. If there was profit to be made, wouldn't someone (Amtrak or otherwise) have built it already?

[Aleking]

yeah I just don't see how the population density around the midwest is nearly high enough to make this remotely profitable. It's at best convenient for a small minority.

[Maintainschaos]

Originally Posted by Aleking

yeah I just don't see how the population density around the midwest is nearly high enough to make this remotely profitable. It's at best convenient for a small minority.

I guess it depends on which parts of the Midwest. Around the Great Lakes states, I think it is. Nebraska and Kansas? No.

[linicx]

Iowa has more farms than Illinois. MO and AR are mountainous but they are talking about the HSR between Little Rock and Dallas. The southern line to SoCal passes through 700 miles of sand and dust devils to stop at El Paso.

Passenger trains on commercial track really doesn't make much sense any more due to the way the country developed the last 100 years. I can see HSR between Milwaukee and Green Bay but not in Cecil or Troy.

[reppin_the_847]

Any time I take the Wolverine (the line that connects Chicago to Ann Arbor and Detroit) it's usually pretty packed, especially on weekends. I think this would be viable between the large metropolitan areas if the speed & frequency was increased. After all, there are several flights a day between these types of cities for much more $$$. The market is there, despite the complaints of a few sheltered homers in Chicago that never leave the area.

Chicago - St. Louis is quickly becoming an HSR corridor, and Chicago - Milwaukee - Madison - Minneapolis could've easily become a premier corridor if Gov. Walker (WI) hadn't turned down the free Fed money to upgrade the line. The Chicago originating Wolverine train to Ann Arbor/Detroit's western leg has already improved markedly. East of Kalamazoo will improve once Michigan acquires the track from Norfolk Southern. Once the Wolverine improves to near 110 MPH throughout the line, they need to increase the frequency and maybe bring out an overnight train. I think it will be a huge success.