High speed


$US 500m less than an equivalent upgrade of the Heritage Corridor, while the entire project is projected to cost $US 4.91bn - $US 5.2bn at 2011 prices without the Springfield alternative, or $US 5.1bn - $US 5.19bn if this option is chosen instead.


Join the club


While the Chicago - St Louis corridor might be gradually joining the 177km/h club, the Chicago - Detroit corridor is already a member after regular operations began on a 128.7km section between Porter, Indiana, and Kalamazoo, Michigan, on February 15 2012. Federal grants worth $US 350m are funding the programme which will extend 177km/h operation to Detroit and Dearborn by 2014 or 2015 after upgrading work began last summer. The Detroit route is certainly a showcase for improved passenger operations, but with 373km of the 489km Chicago - Pontiac route in public hands, after the State of Michigan agreed to purchase the 217km Kalamazoo - Ann Arbor - Dearborn section from NS in 2011, officials say the Illinois corridor is a better fit for other states to model their own future passenger improvement projects. According to Mr Rich Harnish, executive director of the Midwest High- Speed Rail Association (MHSRA), Illinois put the Chicago - St Louis corridor in pole position to secure funding because “the plans were in place” and because of the state Department of Transportation’s aggressive pro-rail stance. Indeed, Illinois’ preparation enabled it to land $US 1.1bn of the $US 8bn available in


the Federal Stimulus package announced by President Obama in April 2009 and issued in January 2010. Measured against the ambitious plans of the California High-Speed Rail Authority for a 354km/h service, or even against Amtrak’s new long-term vision for its Northeast Corridor (IRJ September 2012 p107), the Illinois effort may appear insignificant in the high- speed rail arena. However, success on this route - one whose physical constraints have plagued Amtrak for decades - will showcase what benefit higher mainline speeds could offer to numerous routes, and the cities along them, in the not-too-distant future. Not that Harnish is entirely satisfied. “I would call this upgrade the minimum that Amtrak should be,” he says adding that the danger lies in low expectations. “We can’t do much so let’s not try to do much - it’s a flawed and dangerous argument, although it’s far better than what we had back in 2003 [when] we were clearly very stuck in place.” He says major lessons learned include “starting to understand better how to run high-quality services in cooperation with freight railroads” adding that he is not surprised by UP’s ability to cooperate, since “they do a decent job” running Metra commuter trains in Chicago. The core issue, Harnish says, is the incremental cost formula. “We have to come to terms with the right way to compensate the freight railroads in any public-private partnership arrangement.” The current state-by-state patchwork


approach to a federal inter-city rail system also needs to be resolved because this is a major roadblock to other projects getting off the ground.


Illinois IRJ


Springfield Dwight Pontiac Bloomington Lincoln Elkhart


SEE INSET Springfield


N Chicago


Naperville Joliet


Elwood


Godfrey Alton


St Louis Lenox


177km/h section Being upgraded Double track being upgraded


Planned routes


A Harsco track renewal train at work on the Chicago - St Louis corridor. 30


“The fact that the UP route is in a single state is very important in allowing Illinois to move aggressively without objections from neighbouring states,” Harnish says. “And the access into Chicago [from St Louis] is easier to deal with than the access to Chicago from Detroit,” he adds indirectly referencing the proposed Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency Program (Create). This scheme proposes $US 3.2bn in improvements to rail infrastructure for passenger and freight in the Chicago region, and is currently awaiting approval from Congress. Harnish says the State of Illinois has earned bragging rights simply by utilising federal funds to advance long- term projects that have stalled. If the Chicago - St Louis project proves to be a success, this should inspire other states to dust off their own improvement plans for further funding allocations. And with President Obama securing a second term in the White House, there is a chance that this will become available in the near future. “Normal, Illinois, now has a new station,” Harnish says. “The project had been on the books for a long time, but suddenly with the Tiger programme, there was money to do it. And Illinois was ready. That’s huge. It’s great to see new track in place, widened and cleaned-up right of way, and it’s clear that the state is making an investment. We need to keep that pace up.” IRJ


IRJ January 2013


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