Durbin Applauds Agreement to Aggressively Pursue High-Speed Rail Between St. Louis and Chicago

Press Release

"High-speed rail on the St. Louis to Chicago corridor is one step closer to reality as the result of an agreement reached by Union Pacific and the Illinois Department of Transportation," U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) said today. The memorandum of understanding (MOU) green lights a study to examine the upgrades needed to accommodate high-speed rail service along the heavily trafficked route.

Just prior to the announcement, Durbin met with U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO), U.S. Representative Jerry Costello (D-IL), IDOT Secretary Gary Hannig, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, Amtrak CEO Joe Boardman and Union Pacific Railroad Senior Vice President Bob Turner to discuss the MOU and next steps on taking full advantage of the funding made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for high-speed rail.

The Recovery Act included the largest investment in high-speed passenger rail in history: $8 billion. This investment is 17 times more funding than the federal government has invested into passenger rail over the last decade."Over the last 8 years, I led an annual uphill battle on Capitol Hill to fund passenger rail. As a result, we were able to keep Amtrak on life support. Today is a new day. The $8 billion in the stimulus bill gives us the opportunity to make real progress toward our goals of expanded routes, improved reliability and high-speed service. By working as a regional team, we will be well positioned to win the funding needed to create a true high-speed rail corridor from Chicago to St. Louis in the next 5 years," said Durbin.

During the meeting this afternoon, the assembled group discussed plans to achieve some ambitious, yet realistic goals:

* Increase train speeds along the corridor to 110 mph
* Reduce the overall trip time from Chicago-STL to less than 4 hours, making a train trip faster than car and competitive with air travel
* Achieve an average on-time-performance of 85% along the lineEnsure that Recovery Act funding must be obligated by 2012

Despite the current economic downturn, ridership on the St. Louis-Chicago corridor has increased by six percent—more than 18,000 additional passengers—in fiscal year 2009 (October 2008 to April 2009).

"Creating a true high-speed Chicago-St. Louis rail corridor will link up two major Midwestern metropolitan areas, allowing the efficient movement of goods, people and ideas," Durbin said. "The long-term benefit of this project will keep people working and make Illinois more competitive in the 21st century global economy."

The American Association of Railroads estimate that every dollar spent on investments in our nation's railroads—tracks, equipment, locomotives, bridges—yields $3 in economic output. In addition, each $1 billion of rail investment creates 20,000 jobs.

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