Chicago Tribune reported that a further grant of USD 1.2 billion in federal funding has been released for high speed rail development on the Chicago St Louis corridor in Illinois, where work is underway to upgrade the existing Union Pacific line for 177 kilometers per hour running.
The previously negotiated award was confirmed in Chicago on March 22nd 2011, when the state's Governor Mr Pat Quinn and US Senator Dick Durbin, hosted an event to announce the start of work on the next USD 685 million phase of the upgrading program, which is scheduled to begin on April 5th 2011.
Mr Quinn told the Chicago Tribune that "Illinois has always been a strong railroad state and we always will be."
Upgrading of the 457 kilometers long Chicago to St Louis route is expected to cut the end to end journey time by 90 minutes to under 4 hour. As well as the USD 1.2 billion in federal funding, the state has agreed to contribute a further USD 42 million.
In September 2010, Mr Quinn and Mr Durbin initiated work on a USD 98 million upgrading of the 145 kilometers between Alton and Lincoln at the southern end of the corridor, making Illinois the first state to break ground under the federal initiative to develop a Midwest high speed rail network.
According to Illinois Department of Transportation, the work starting in April 2011 will see the Dwight to Lincoln and Alton to St Louis sections re laid with concrete sleepers. Signaling on the Dwight to Alton section will also be modernized. The federally funded work will be managed by UP, and is expected to generate more than 6,000 direct and indirect jobs. The work is due for completion in 2014, but trains could begin running at 177 kilometers per hour between Dwight and Pontiac next year.
Illinois has also applied for further grants from the USD 2.4 billion promised for the Orlando to Tampa project but rejected by Florida's Governor Rick Scott; bids for this money must be submitted to federal Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood by April 4th 2011. Durbin commented that the governors of these other states that have given up their money can stand by and wave at our trains when they go by.
Meanwhile, Mr Quinn confirmed that studies are underway to look at the feasibility of developing a 350 kilometers per hour corridor in Illinois. In December 2010, IDoT began an Environmental Impact Statement to study the potential for a second line between Chicago and St Louis, to identify a preferred route between Chicago and Joliet and look at potential alignments through Springfield. This study is expected to be completed in 2012.
Mr Gary Hannig transportation secretary of Illinois said that "We are proud to be leaders on a project that will reduce congestion, benefit the environment and spark economic development. We will see the returns on our efforts to develop the Chicago to St Louis high speed corridor for years to come."
(Sourced from Chicago Tribune)
