Durbin, Quinn to work to bring high speed rail funding to Illinois

March 9th, 2009 at 08:30pm Chuck Sweeny

Sen. Dick Durbin joined Gov. Pat Quinn in Chicago’s Union Station Monday to pledge cooperation in an effort to get some of the $8 billion in high speed rail money for Illinois. First up: Making the line from Chicago to St. Louis capable of 110 mph top speeds, reducing the trip from 5 and a half hours to 4.

This is not European style high speed rail, for the Europeans are far, far ahead of the U.S. when it comes to developing and investing in modern rail transportation. But  it’s better than today’s trains. Actually, 110 mph trains would restore the Chicago-St. Louis route to the high speed of the 1950s, when GM&O passenger trains cruised at 100 mph or better — the EMD diesel electric engines that pulled those trains had  a top speed of 109.

The state of Illinois could help passenger traffic by encouraging state employees to take the train to and from Chicago, which was the common practice in the 1970s.

The high speed rail network terminating in Chicago does not feature Rockford, so we are not likely to get any of the high speed money. We could, however, get regular rail funding for trains from Chicago to Rockford , Freeport, Galena and Dubuque, Ia.That, of course, depends on a united coalition from Dubuque to Rockford, and I don’t see signs of that being developed to any level that matters to politicians.

Anyone thinking of posting a critique of federal subsidies for passenger rail, forget it. All transportation is heavily subsidized, roads, rivers, canals, airports. No transportation mode makes money without Uncle Sam’s help.

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