Hotline #71 - January 29, 1999

Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater announced extension of the Chicago Hub High-Speed Rail Corridor to Indianapolis and Cincinnati, yesterday in Chicago. He gave Amtrak Chairman and Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson a $200,000 check for a study of the impact of a new high-speed turbine-powered locomotive on the Chicago Hub Corridor. And Thompson announced Amtrak's new commitment of $25 million to Midwestern projects. Key items include:

• $5 million for a South Chicago rail connection at Grand Crossing to let trains from Carbondale and New Orleans move more directly onto the Conrail mainline to Union Station, avoiding the elevated St. Charles Air Line which is circuitous and requires a back-up move and which Chicago wants to tear down;
• $5 million for what Amtrak calls "a demonstration next year of modern, premium trains and technology. This demonstration will generate public interest and spur ridership in anticipation of the new regional rail system. In addition, it will allow Amtrak to obtain customer feedback and more thoroughly test new technology under Midwestern climate conditions;"
• $2 million towards the important, planned St. Louis multi-modal terminal that would at last give Amtrak a good St. Louis station with reasonable visibility and with an excellent transfer to the successful St. Louis light-rail line;
• $2 million towards returning Amtrak to the restored Kansas City Union Station. This will dramatically enhance Amtrak's visibility there, while increasing the distance between tracks and station facilities;
• $1 million to improve the Milwaukee station; and
• $6 million for further research to prepare Chicago Union Station, the Chicago-Detroit corridor, and other projects for future high-speed rail service.

Slater's action makes the Cincinnati line eligible for federal high-speed program funds. He said projects like the turbine locomotive project "demonstrate President Clinton's commitment to safety as the highest transportation priority and help build the transportation system for the new millennium." This implies criticism of the diesel multiple-unit equipment proposed in the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative.

In a release yesterday, NARP praised the Amtrak action as a vital, early step.

Iowa Interstate Railroad President Doug Christy last week told the Iowa Association of Railroad Passengers his company is negotiating with Amtrak about starting a Chicago-Des Moines passenger and express train, separate from efforts to start an Omaha service (as outlined in the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative).

A Thruway bus using an existing intercity bus schedule began service January 1 between Indianapolis, Crawfordsville, Danville, Champaign, Farmer City, Bloomington, Peoria, Galesburg, Moline, and Davenport. Though layover length varies, it connects with the Cardinal in both directions at Indianapolis, the Texas Eagle and other trains at Bloomington, and westbound-only with western trains at Galesburg. Connections with Amtrak at Champaign are also possible, but for now the bus does not stop at the nearby train station.

Kansas City Business Journal says the Branson Scenic Railroad plans to link Branson and Kansas City Union Station, by the time the Science Museum opens in that building late this year.

A new transit authority has been created to build the stalled Pasadena Blue Line. Work on the light-rail project halted a year ago due to Los Angeles MTA money troubles.

A German magazine reports completion of the troubled maglev project will be delayed at least a year, and won't be done before the fall of 2006, due to apparent underestimation of the impact of European Union environmental directives on the Berlin-Hamburg project.