For nearly a decade, high speed passenger rail service throughout the Midwest has been considered, and Senator Durbin has been a strong supporter of this idea. However, due to the high cost of the initial infrastructure investment, it was never a serious possibility until President Obama included $8 billion for upgrading rail lines in the economic stimulus package passed earlier this year, most of which was earmarked for “shovel ready” projects.
Union Pacific is now hoping to receive more than 2 billion dollars in stimulus funds to construct an additional rail line between Chicago and St. Louis that would have the capacity to handle High Speed Rail (HSR) as well as additional freight trains, which would represent most of the increase in traffic. While Springfield only represents 4.4 miles of the total 300 mile project, the decision of where to locate this primary rail line will be a critical issue that affects our city (positively or negatively) for years to come.
Click here for a more in-depth explanation of the issue. (Adobe PDF)
The Regional Planning Commission has also put together a series of very informative reports regarding the proposed mitigation (overpasses and closings) and other impacts of the current proposal. These reports can be found on their website at
http://co.sangamon.il.us/Departments/RegionalPlanning/Transportation_Planning.asp.
For nearly a decade, high speed passenger rail service throughout the Midwest has been considered, and Senator Durbin has been a strong supporter of this idea. However, due to the high cost of the initial infrastructure investment, it was never a serious possibility until President Obama included $8 billion for upgrading rail lines in the economic stimulus package passed earlier this year, most of which was earmarked for “shovel ready” projects.
Union Pacific is now hoping to receive more than 2 billion dollars in stimulus funds to construct an additional rail line between Chicago and St. Louis that would have the capacity to handle High Speed Rail (HSR) as well as additional freight trains, which would represent most of the increase in traffic. While Springfield only represents 4.4 miles of the total 300 mile project, the decision of where to locate this primary rail line will be a critical issue that affects our city (positively or negatively) for years to come.
Click here for a more in-depth explanation of the issue. (Adobe PDF)
The Regional Planning Commission has also put together a series of very informative reports regarding the proposed mitigation (overpasses and closings) and other impacts of the current proposal. These reports can be found on their website at
http://co.sangamon.il.us/Departments/RegionalPlanning/Transportation_Planning.asp.