Recovery Act high-speed rail announcement in St. Louis
Yesterday, across the country, announcements were being made regarding $8 billion in federal grants from the Recovery Act. One of those announcements took place in St. Louis.  I was there for the announcement and captured the entire press conference on video so you can view the entire event.
#1 – Opening with Missouri Governor Jay Nixon and Dept Admin Karen Rae (Dept Admin Transportation Dept):
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv-_Ol3yVtA
#2 – Dr. Ed Montgomery (White House Exec Dir for Auto Communities and Workers):
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nPtfGJw9hg
#3 – U.S. Congressman Russ Carnahan (D-3rd):
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4Pml8wxnmo
#4 – Question & Answer:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_lqGfRz0RM
#5 – Missouri Senator Joan Bray (D-24):
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqdKuMR8BPI
Another press conference will be held today (Friday 1/29/2010) at the Amtrak station in Alton IL. It will be years before the St. Louis-Chicago connection is complete but as was said this $8 billion is only a down payment. The federal government subsidized the interstate highway system for decades while ignoring passenger rail. Chicago will be the center of a network of high-speed rail lines, our proximity is good.
“A White House official visited St. Louis today to announce $1.1 billion in stimulus money for high-speed rail between St. Louis and Chicago and another $31 million to upgrade passenger rail service between St. Louis and Kansas City.” (St. Louis-Chicago high-speed rail gets $1.1B in stimulus)
Improving city-to-city rail transit will increase the ability for someone living in the St. Louis region to go car-free. Residents on both sides of the Mississippi River can take MetroLink to the St. Louis Amtrak station and travel to Chicago and beyond. I look forward to taking a high-speed train to Chicago.
– Steve Patterson
Don't get me wrong, the idea of a “high” speed train to Chicago sounds like a great improvement.
How is it being paid for? If the article on STLtoday is correct, the federal government is supplying $1.1 billion of the estimated $4 billion necessary to build it. In case anyone forgot, Illinois is in a fiscal crisis and Missouri's budget for the next fiscal year will be hurting without the stimulus money that shored-up the last budget. Where are the other funds coming from?
Then there are the costs of actually operating the system, which is another question. How many daily or annual riders does this system need to break even? Is it even feasible to break even, or will this require massive subsidies from the states and the federal government?
I like the concept of an improved rail line to Chicago, but I will reserve judgment until more information comes out. I didn't listen to the speeches either, I am just going off of the information I have read.
“Improving city-to-city rail transit will increase the ability for someone living in the St. Louis region to go car-free.” Assuming we actually want to. “Residents on both sides of the Mississippi River can take MetroLink to the St. Louis Amtrak station and travel to Chicago and beyond.” And that's a huge rub/what-if. Any time saved on the high-speed train will be more than offset trying to make our local connections work!
Since I only go to Chicago, at most, a few times a year, while I try to get around St. Louis every day, my vote would be to invest a billion or two improving our local options. I'd gladly trade saving 15 minutes every day here with saving an hour going to Chi town every six months, especially since I'm much more likely to fly or to just drive myself to Chicago . . .
I wish they weren't spending the 1 Billion on this lower speed rail, instead building the final product 230 mph rail. Instead we're putting money into a project that will need to be replaced in the next 20 years.
Also, the forgone conclusion is that Chicago is going to be the hub. And while that makes some sense, why not have St. Louis also get some of the Hub connections. Memphis, New Orleans, KC, even some of the Texas lines should run through St. Louis on the way to Chicago. Throw a connection from STL to Indy, and you are in business. Instead, they are talking about running much of those lines through downstate IL and bypassing St. Louis. At 230 mph, the increased time to get to Chicago would be minimal, but the cost to build redundant lines would be silly.
I agree that St. Louis needs to have more connections, maybe not a national hub we once were, but at least a regional hub. Also Amtrak runs the Texas Eagle service from Chicago through st. louis to San Antonio and Dallas
With St Louis losing its hub status with air flights, I'd love to be able to take a cab to Amtrak, hop a bullet train to O'Hare and then fly to my final destination. We could reduce the regional flights coming into O'Hare leaving long haul flights (over 1,000 miles) more time slots to land and reducing flight delays. Everyone wins (except oil companies). Trains are more efficient, more comfortable (air pressure/humidity/freedom of movement/cell phone/internet) and less weather dependent than air flight.
St Louis could be a regional hub as well with connections to Memphis, KC, Indianapolis…