Help change the direction of high-speed rail planning.

You can help change the direction of high-speed rail planning!

The Michigan Department of Transportation is seeking public comment in the draft "purpose and need statement" for the Chicago - Detroit Corridor study. This is the first step towards creating a 20-year master plan for the corridor.

The study will focus on designing a new, double-track passenger mainline for the first fifty miles from Chicago to Porter, IN. This segment is the keystone of the Midwest system. It will be used for trains to Cleveland and beyond, Columbus and Pittsburgh, Indianapolis and Cincinnati, even Champiagn and Memphis and possibly St. Louis.

Opportunities to do planning of this scale do not occur very often. It is critical that it be done right.

The DOT's have completed the first round of comparing various route alternatives. In addition to screening out several undesirable routes, the DOT's added a new alternative that likely meets our criteria for high-speed rail on this segment.

To be clear, we aren't saying that the track speeds should be 220-mph for the entire 50 miles. Nor are we saying that all the work should be done in the first phase, but lets make sure these new tracks can handle 220-mph trains when they come. And let's believe that that 220-mph trains will be running within the next 20 years.

Typically, few comments are received during this stage of the planning process, so your comment will definitely have an impact.

Please click here to make a comment.

Click here if you would like more background.

Rick Harnish
Executive Director
Midwest High Speed Rail Association
4765 N Lincoln Ave.
Chicago, IL 60625

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