UI study will explore costs, benefits of a 220-mph rail line
CHICAGO — Lunch at Gino's East, then a quick run along Lake Michigan after work before your 40-minute commute home to Champaign.
Sound unrealistic? A high-speed rail line could someday make Champaign-Urbana a "suburb" of Chicago, Gov. Pat Quinn said Thursday, announcing a new partnership with the University of Illinois to study the feasibility of a 220-mph train between the two communities.
UI Professor Christopher P.L. Barkan, director of the UI's railroad engineering program and one of the nation's top rail scholars, will lead the study, funded by a $1.25 million grant from the Illinois Jobs Now! capital program.
The study, to be completed by late 2012, will examine the potential costs and benefits of establishing 220-mph service between O'Hare International Airport, downtown Chicago, McCormick Place and Champaign-Urbana. It will also look at extending the corridor to cities beyond Champaign-Urbana, including St. Louis and Indianapolis.
Stephen Schlickman, director of the UI Chicago's Urban Transportation Center and former executive director of the Regional Transportation Authority, will contribute to the study.
At a press conference Thursday in Chicago, Quinn said a high-speed rail network would improve Illinois' global competitiveness and create thousands of jobs.
UI President Michael Hogan said the study is a natural partnership, given the expertise available at the university.
High-speed rail would be "transformational" for the cities it connects, as well as the university, in terms of economic development, lifestyle, research exchanges, faculty recruitment and collaborations between the Chicago and Urbana campuses, Hogan said. The benefits to the university can't be overstated, he said.
"It would help us with hiring; it would help facilitate the research enterprise; it would bring the world-class science we have in Urbana to downtown Chicago," he said. "I believe it's a win-win for everybody."
Specifically, the study will recommend locations for the high-speed corridor and outline estimated ridership projections, economic impact, construction costs and financing options.
An advisory group of transportation experts, rail advocates, labor leaders and regional planners will also provide input.
The state broke ground in 2010 on a high-speed line between Chicago and St. Louis that is expected to reach speeds of 110 mph by early next year, part of a Midwest rail network, the release said.
Hogan, a historian, said Illinois has been a leader in transportation ever since Abraham Lincoln led the effort for a transcontinental railway. He and Quinn discussed their interest in high-speed rail at their first meeting a year ago, when Hogan was appointed UI president.
It took 40 years to build the country's interstate highway system, a controversial idea when it was first proposed during the Eisenhower administration, Hogan said. Critics said it was too expensive, the country couldn't afford it, and the benefits were exaggerated. It passed by only two votes.
"The gains far exceeded anybody's wildest imaginations in terms of knitting the country together, making the nation more mobile, increasing trade and business enterprise across states and across the country," Hogan said. He is convinced "if this country really got into high-speed rail, 40 or 50 years from now we'd be saying the same thing."
Though he joked about the "suburb" comment, Hogan sees the benefits going both ways, particularly in business. Hogan said he recently traveled 1,400 miles by car among the three campuses during a one-week period.
"Anytime you can narrow the time and distance between business partnerships, it's a good thing," he said.
While there is already collaboration between the campuses, particularly among the health sciences in Chicago and engineering and computer science in Urbana, high-speed rail would make it "bloom and blossom," he said.
It would also make the university as a whole more attractive to new faculty, he said.
The ability to hop on a train and be downtown in less than an hour to visit a museum or see a Cubs game would be a big selling point for new faculty at Urbana, he added.
"Sometimes we have a little difficulty convincing faculty we're recruiting that everything they will want in life is in Urbana-Champaign," he said.
Likewise, UI Chicago faculty could live in a more rural setting and commute to their labs or classrooms downtown.
Funding, of course, is the biggest hurdle. Hogan said Lincoln had the same problem trying to finance an intercontinental railroad system during the Civil War, along with a land-grant university system.
"In a great nation with great vision and great leaders, even in challenging times, things can get done," he said. "In this case what would get done would be an enormous boon."
MoreIt would certainly be of benefit to have a high speed rail line between Champaign, and Chicago.
The transport experts should also be studying the cost, and benefits for a high speed line from New York City, to Chicago, to Los Angles. With trains running each way every four hours.
It could be done with money now given to countries in the middle east that hate America.
A high speed train for those who really care about going to Chicago, or having Chicago come here? All at the expense of the public; and benefiting the U of I. Wow, a one hour trip instead of a three hour trip to watch the Cubs play. What around the windmill that the U of I was going to build? Oh, that got scrapped.... People won't have to wait as long at country crossing; but they better be watching.
Gosh, I hate to have to agree with Sid (hi Sid!) but this makes no sense to me either.
The University and State are broke but want to spend millions of dollars looking at the feasibility and need of a high-speed line?
We have regional flights to Chicago (what, like 7 a day on American Eagle?) and a neat Interstate system that gets us from most places in the state to most other places in the state in a few hours.
No need for high-speed rail. The Internet allows us to collaborate with our friends at UIC and elsewhere much faster than any train can go.
And yeah, I'm a fan of windmills too. Let's do that instead.
Mike writes that "The University and State are broke but want to spend millions of dollars looking at the feasibility and need of a high-speed line?"
Do you not grasp that this $1.25 million grant represents money flowing in to the University? One could argue about whether the state has the money to spend, but by what logic could this influx of over a million dollars possibly be bad for the University?
The state doesn't have the money to properly fund the University the way things are now. Or so they say. Yet they are funding willy-nilly grants?
So no, I don't think that the state needs to be granting millions of dollars to a small group to look into interplanetary travel, or ways to turn lead into gold. This money isn't something that just goes into the University general fund.
But if the state has an extra million or two laying around for this sort of sillyness, by all means, get closer to funding the University in general they way that they used to in the past and should be doing now.
Only locals seem to think Willard is here forever. National analysts are unanimous in thinking that since everyone from ChamBana already drives to BMI for flights, Willard soon will close unless the University, cities (Savoy? Never, Champaign? Maybe. Urbana? Less maybe.) will pony up several million per year to keep it open for one airline.
Bloomington is way ahead of Champaign in planning for and lobbying for High Speed Rail. Even though Champaign's location is better, it is beginning to look like Bloomington (actually Normal) will get the billions in federal, state and private money to build and maintain a HSR station. ChamBana better get on the ball sometime soon. With the UI downsizing (or worse) and the local economy in shambles, it had better find ways to connect with the real world or decide that it should become another Moline or Mattoon. Nice towns, both, but disconnected from everything, minor and overpriced retail, and pleasant but unimportant colleges. Respectable faculty won't come to a trivial and disconnected town. New businesses won't either.
There is nothing we can do about the airport. US air carriers have decided that CMI is irrelevant and that they are better off flying into Bloomington, or even Midway and Indy. CMI's future is a clone of Decatur's airport at best. So High Speed Rail is the best, perhaps only hope for ChamBana to remain a part of the state economy.
And what's wrong with being able to go to Union Station in 40 minutes or St Louis in 50 minutes? If it is priced like European HSR it won't be bringing crime, etc. to Champaign. And in the USA, nothing is as cheap as it is in Europe, so I would expect it to be much more expensive since in the USA the government spends trillions to subsidize and insure corporate profitability, we will surely see much higher per mile prices than anywhere else in the entire world.
First, Mike and I might disagree about somethings; but not everything. It seems that the argument for spending a minimum of $1,250,000.00 on the "study" is that it brings in money for the U of I; and that Champaign will become ( God Forbid! ) a "pleasant but unimportant college" town. The argument against it is that the money could be spent, or not spent, on immediate needs of the public. The public is paying for it. Perhaps; the majority of the public really do not care about a 40, or 50 minute train ride to a "cosmopolitan" destination. They are trying to just meet their necessary daily needs. Everyone want less spending by government; except if it benefits their want list. What about the trail from Urbana to Danville? What about the windmill ( sorry, Mike )? What about the beautification of the Urbana portion of the Boneyard Creek? What about more statures? Sorry; but the "permanent" residents of Champaign County get tired of the "temporary" residents want lists.
The federal government is going to spend money as it wants. Now a great deal of money is spent on foreign aid to counties that do no care about America, or Democracy. This money could be used for HSR across the nation. The Germans had an interstate highway system before WWII. Pres. Eisenhower saw that there was a need here for such a system. ( Mainly to use in time of war.) Government programs are not a high priority on most peoples lists. If the government continues to throw money around however, why hot spend it on something of benefit to all the people like HSR.
The federal, and state governments do not have it to spend without borrowing it. An HSR system would involve use of existing lines. The line from St. Louis to Springfield to Bloomington, and to Chicago is one route. Another wanted route would be Chicago to New Orleans which would stop in Champaign. The profitability would be the movement of freight, not people. The idea that an HSR route from Chicago to Champaign only is folly. It would never happen. The bridge disaster in Minnesota a few years ago prompted Illinois to exam bridges. Guess what? They are in extremely poor shape. The Illinois highway system is in disrepair also. The $1,250,000.00 for the "study" would be better spent on the existing infrastructure. Right now in this dire financial time, a "study" on HSR is equivalent to Alaska's Bridge To Nowhere. Great idea; but not a priority. The government cannot continue "to throw money around".
Can we agree that government cannot continue to borrow, and throw money around? Foreign aid to countries, mainly in the Middle East, that don't give a dam about America, Americans, or Democracy should be cut off to reduce our debt for the three wars we are fighting.
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