WREX.com – Rockford’s News LeaderHigh speed rail plan: Trains traveling 220mph

High speed rail plan: Trains traveling 220mph

CHICAGO (AP) -- When it comes to trains, there's fast and then there's really, really fast.

Advocates have unveiled an ambitious, $12 billion plan for "ultra-fast" train service between Chicago and St. Louis that could cut travel times from the current five hours to around two. It would run via Decatur, Champaign-Urbana and Springfield.

Trains would zoom up to 220 mph. That's more than 100 mph faster than trains under a plan advocated by eight Midwestern governors.

Rail proponents welcomed the gubernatorial push for an upgraded network with Chicago as its hub. But the comparatively modest proposal hasn't generated the kind of hoopla 220-mph train service would.

Tuesday's proposal is in a new study from the Midwest High Speed Rail Association.

Skeptics say 220 mph train service would be too costly

CHICAGO (AP) -- Skeptics of high-speed rail say a proposal for ultra-fast trains between Chicago and St. Louis will prove too costly.

A plan unveiled by advocacy groups Tuesday envisions electric-powered trains zooming at up to 220 mph and cutting travel times between the cities to just two hours.

They'd run 100 mph faster than diesel-powered trains under a more modest high-speed plan backed by Midwestern governors. Many rail enthusiasts have pooh-poohed the gubernatorial proposal as too conservative.

But the head of the Illinois Policy Institute, John Tillman, questions whether any benefits of 220-mph train service would justify the cost.

He says the $11.5 billion price tag's bound to soar.

And he says it's doubtful electric trains would be more environmentally friendly since they'd rely on energy produced by coal-burning plants.