|
 Using an Amtrak locomotive and two passenger cars as a backdrop,
Gov. Pat Quinn, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and other dignitaries praised
the start this month of $98 million in upgrades to a 90-mile stretch
of track from Alton, just northeast of St. Louis, to Lincoln.
That leg, expected to be completed by the end of this year, will
eventually tie in to Chicago. Officials said it will cut the travel
time between St. Louis and Chicago by 90 minutes, to less than four
hours, with trains traveling at 110 mph -- the Federal Railroad
Administration's qualifying threshold for high-speed rail.
That's a 31 mph improvement over the top speed that most U.S. rail
systems now operate, though Amtrak's 10-year-old Acela Express,
which links Boston and Washington, can hit top speeds of 150 mph.
The high-speed corridor between St. Louis and Chicago should be
running by 2012, officials said.
"We want to make sure the whole world knows we're in a race for
high-speed rail," Quinn said.
The Democrat touted the project as a "mission" and "vision" that
languished as a concept for years before construction finally began.
Yet sometimes, Quinn noted, "the longest journey begins with the
first step."
Quinn, who took over as governor after Gov. Rod Blagojevich's
ouster, is seeking a full term in office this year.
Helping to fund the project is the $1.1 billion in federal stimulus
money that President Barack Obama's administration awarded in
January to enhance passenger rail service between his hometown of
Chicago and St. Louis. Illinois, already grappling with a $13
billion budget gap, is contributing $400 million, Quinn said.
Such a project has drawn some skepticism, largely over its
taxpayer-covered price tag and concerns that ridership might not
meet expectations. In Wisconsin, GOP gubernatorial candidates
recently promised to stop an $810 million project to build a 110-mph
rail line between Madison and Milwaukee.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a former Illinois
congressman, has defended the high-speed rail push. He called it an
important part of a national rail program that advocates say could
rival the interstate highways that begun in the Eisenhower era and
took decades to complete.
Proponents also have pointed to the demand for Amtrak, which cites
an improving economy and high fuel prices as the reason it's on pace
for record ridership this year, carrying a best-ever 13.6 million
passengers in the first half of fiscal year 2010.
[to top of second column] |
Last month, Amtrak said ridership on its rail line between Chicago
and St. Louis -- one of the service's most popular routes -- was up 11
percent over the last fiscal year. Amtrak said that from October
2009 through July, more than a half-million passengers made the
trip.
Durbin, who with many others in his family once worked for the
railroad, had little patience with naysayers Friday. The senator
pointed to the 900 jobs the Alton-to-Lincoln upgrades could create
and the roughly 24,000 jobs that proponents suggest the St.
Louis-to-Chicago improvements should generate.
"To the skeptics who said we never should have done it, my question
to them is, 'What would you do?"‘ Durbin said in justifying the
federal taxpayer tab. "I know generations to come will have better
service from Amtrak, more reliable service" with high-speed rail."
[Associated
Press; By JIM SUHR]
Copyright 2010 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
