Quinn lays tracks for high-speed rail

[March 23, 2011]  CHICAGO -- Illinois is getting on board with high-speed rail and is on track with job creation, Gov. Pat Quinn says.

A $685 million project will improve the rail system between Chicago and St. Louis. The project would create more than 6,000 jobs, Gov. Pat Quinn said at news conference Tuesday.

But not everyone sees high-speed rail as an economic panacea.

Governors of states ranging from Wisconsin to Florida have turned away from the rail program.

Critics of high-speed rail contend that the jobs created by the taxpayer-funded program are mostly temporary and that the marketplace rather than government should determine the feasibility of such projects.

But those who support the program see it as a means of creating jobs and improving travel options.

"We want to make sure we get lots of people employed. This is part of our economic recovery," Quinn said.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, made the announcement along with Quinn.

"(These are) jobs that can't be shipped overseas -- jobs that are going to help families, communities and neighborhoods. We are going to be building and buying all across the Midwest," Durbin said. "Understand that over $200 million of this is going to be locomotive and railroad cars. We want to see some of that money too."

But the program backed by President Barack Obama as well Quinn and Durbin has its share of critics.

"Although the president offers no cost estimate for this ambitious project, which would use immense federal subsidies to undermine the existing private and tax-paying bus and air service to these communities, it would likely be one of the costliest and most underutilized federal programs in American history," said Ronald Utt, a senior research fellow in a study done for the Heritage Foundation.

Quinn said the high-speed rail project's contractors are expected to hire Illinoisans. And Durbin said in a statement that the high-speed rail would generate up to $23 billion in economic activity.

Illinois received $1.2 billion in federal funding to expand and improve the state's rail system. Half of the funding is geared toward upgrading the tracks and infrastructures, stations, locomotives and cars, and communication devices. The project is anticipated to be completed by 2014, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation.

But Utt noted several states receiving the money are re-examining the plan's "cost estimates, travel benefits and long-term subsidy obligations more closely."

He added in his February report: "(G)ubernatorial candidates in Wisconsin, Ohio and Florida who opposed or were skeptical about HSR won their elections. The new governors of Wisconsin and Ohio have since canceled their states' programs."

And Florida's Gov. Rick Scott earlier this month declined to accept the federal funding for his state as well.

Utt added that high-speed rail would "provide mediocre passenger rail service to an extremely small fraction of travelers."

But Joe Szabo, administrator for the Federal Railroad Administration, said this is a timely project because of the increasing gas prices.

"Instead of paying at the pump for that foreign oil, that money is better spent in Illinois restaurants, stores, hotels, theaters and ballparks," Szabo said.

The first set of upgrades was completed by December 2010 between Brighton and Elkhart, excluding the Springfield area. The second tier of improvements is between Dwight and St. Louis and is set to begin April 5 in Elkhart.

State Sen. William Haine, D-Alton, said it makes sense to improve those corridors, especially because Alton -- a couple of miles north of Missouri -- generates a lot of Amtrak traffic.

"I feel that if (high-speed rail) is to work, they've got to (add) this new station in Alton that has plentiful and accessible parking, because Alton has become the regional site for boarding," Haine said.

Quinn is already eyeing the federal train money that's recently been snubbed by other states.

"We're competing for that money. We're going after that money. We got some of Wisconsin's money already. We want to go after the money that Florida has given back to the Federal Railway Agency. It's important we compete for it in the best way we know how, and that's with hard work," Quinn said.

[Illinois Statehouse News; By MARY J. CRISTOBAL]

Illinois Statehouse News reporter Melissa Leu contributed to the story.