Little Illinois making fast rail service a priority in the midwest. Folks this is the MIDWEST!
You know, rural with large distances between population centers. If Illinois can do this, any state can.
$2 Billion to go 20mph faster than before? I mean, progress is progress but honestly this is pathetic.
It’s also only 297miles and 4.5 hours via car.
Not gonna get people to take the train if, even with this ($2B) speed increase, it still is losing to a car.
If the train makes that trip in three hours, you’ll get converts.
Yeah I’d really hope that the upgrades pave the way for even higher potential speeds, like if the limiting factor is now old Amtrak trainsets instead of the rail itself. Or if a new line means less delays. 20 minutes out of 5 hours is really not much.
Illinois fucking rocks, though
I’d probably say that money is better spent on more frequency on the route than trying to increase speed by a bit. Amtrak has the same “higher speed” service in Michigan to Chicago but the infrequent service keeps it from being truely competitive with driving.
I’m all for high speed rail, and I think it’s embarrassing how far behind the US is from much of the world. But, reading that short article I’m wondering if 13 years and $2 Billion is worth it to shave 15 minutes off a 5 hour route. According to wikipedia (which some people have a weird thing about), there are a few higher speed rail routes in operation around the country.
