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Midwest-GAF: High-speed rail line from Columbus to Chicago being considered

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B

BertramCooper

Banned
high-speed-columbus-chicago.jpg


WBNS: High Speed Rail Line Proposed Between Columbus and Chicago


WBNS said:
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The City of Columbus says it is reviewing a proposal to bring passenger rail service to downtown Columbus.

Members of the Northeast Indiana Rail Association recently presented their feasibility findings to city officials.

"Over a period of 30 years, we are projecting that 26,800 jobs could be created. That is the equivalent to seven General Motors plants," said Geoff Paddock of the rail association.

The passenger train would make stops along the way. Stops would include Marysville, Lima and Fort Wayne, Indiana. It would terminate in Chicago, Illinois.

Columbus is the largest city in the country that does not have passenger rail service.

According to the Northeast Indiana Rail Association Feasibility study, the proposed train would reach speeds of 110 miles per hour which would put passengers in Chicago in about four hours.
Click to expand...

God, I would love this. I'm not optimistic at all that it would happen, but Columbus needs passenger rail badly. And this actually makes much more sense to me than the 3C plan from a few years back.

No doubt Kasich would love to kill it, but since it would be a multi-state/federal project, apparently he would be somewhat limited in his ability to do so. Or so I've read.
 
P

phosphor112

Banned
Fuck fuck fuck. Indiana needs some non-shit public transportation.

4 hour train right?

Takes 5 hours from Indy to Chicago.
 
V

Viewt

Member
Steelrain said:
Maaaan Fuck Rick Scott.
Click to expand...

UGH don't remind me.

Funnily enough, I left Florida for Chicago earlier this year. I kinda wish this proposed project had a stop in Indianapolis, though. I've heard it's a fun city to visit. Maybe that wouldn't make the most sense for routing, though.

Anywho, here's to more high-speed rail.
 
B

Bo-Locks

Member
That definitely isn't high speed rail. Most high speed rail projects around the world are being built to around 250mph, and the point of HSR is that it's an intercity point to point system, which means that the number of intermediate stops is kept to a bare minimum, which doesn't look like the case in the OP.
 
P

Pillville

Member
I actually live in the Lima area and we're taking a trip to Chicago in 3 weeks.
This would be awesome. They can get it done in 3 weeks, right?

Also, I can hear the bitching from the mid-west "complain no matter what" crowd.
Waste of money. Accident waiting to happen. Disrupts traffic. First time it breaks down - "so much for your precious train!".
 
B

BertramCooper

Banned
Bo-Locks said:
That definitely isn't high speed rail. Most high speed rail projects around the world are being built to around 250mph, and the point of HSR is that it's an intercity point to point system, which means that the number of intermediate stops is kept to a bare minimum, which doesn't look like the case in the OP.
Click to expand...
The definition of high-speed rail is considerably different in the U.S. than it is in most of the world. 100-150 m.p.h. is considered high-speed here.

Which shows how far behind we are in this area.
 
B

BertramCooper

Banned
ZetaEpyon said:
Put me on the "not high-speed" side.
The original article doesn't even refer to it as such.
Click to expand...

The study itself refers to it as "high-speed."

And there aren't any sides here. It's a semantic argument. The idea of widespread 250 m.p.h. rail in the U.S. is a fantasy at this point, so I don't understand why anyone would expect it.
 
S

Skiptastic

Member
phosphor112 said:
Fuck fuck fuck. Indiana needs some non-shit public transportation.

4 hour train right?

Takes 5 hours from Indy to Chicago.
Click to expand...

I'm assuming you meant it takes 5 hours for public transportation to Chicago. Because it certainly doesn't take 5 hours to get there from Indy. I-65 is, like, 2.5 hours from Indy to Chicago city limits. The Loop adds time, granted.

As far as this article goes, that's an interesting route to go. Should be a boon for Fort Wayne and the other cities along the way. Don't know how realistic it is for commuting, but could be a good alternative to flying.

Bring the really fast high speed for the Chicago - Indy route, please!
 
V

Valkyr Junkie

Member
Bo-Locks said:
That definitely isn't high speed rail. Most high speed rail projects around the world are being built to around 250mph, and the point of HSR is that it's an intercity point to point system, which means that the number of intermediate stops is kept to a bare minimum, which doesn't look like the case in the OP.
Click to expand...

There are no actual rail services that operate at over 200mph currently however.
 
Z

ZetaEpyon

Member
BertramCooper said:
The study itself refers to it as "high-speed."

And there aren't any sides here. It's a semantic argument. The idea of widespread 250 m.p.h. rail in the U.S. is a fantasy at this point, so I don't understand why anyone would expect it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's true enough. I wish that these studies would quit using a definition like that for HSR - it's pretty misleading, imo.

It is kind of amazing that there's no passenger rail to Columbus right now. I certainly wouldn't have guessed that.
 
B

BertramCooper

Banned
ZetaEpyon said:
Yeah, that's true enough. I wish that these studies would quit using a definition like that for HSR - it's pretty misleading, imo.
Click to expand...
It's a definition that works within the U.S., but obviously nowhere else in the world. Compared to what we have now, it is high-speed.

It is kind of amazing that there's no passenger rail to Columbus right now. I certainly wouldn't have guessed that.
Click to expand...

Columbus had passenger rail until the 70s, but hasn't had any since then.

The city has 800,000 people, and the metro area has nearly 2 million. But we still don't have any rail whatsoever. It's bonkers.
 
U

ultron87

Member
Most of the time I'd probably still just drive straight from Cincinnati to Chicago instead of driving up to Columbus and then taking a train. That said, trains are pretty cool.
 
J

jehuty

Member
This won't happen unless the governors of all 3 states happen to be democrats when the planning and initial development phases are going on. Us here in Wisconsin would have had the same type of rail transit already completed (Milwaukee to the twin cities via Madison) if isnt wasnt for Scott Walker (yet he billions to his road lobby buddies) cancelling the project. Doesn't help that here is a big crowd of people who think trains are a liberal socialist kenyan muslim extremist plan to destroy america or something. You can always tell who they are by the way hey always refer to trains as "choo-choos".
 
P

phosphor112

Banned
Skiptastic said:
I'm assuming you meant it takes 5 hours for public transportation to Chicago. Because it certainly doesn't take 5 hours to get there from Indy. I-65 is, like, 2.5 hours from Indy to Chicago city limits. The Loop adds time, granted.

As far as this article goes, that's an interesting route to go. Should be a boon for Fort Wayne and the other cities along the way. Don't know how realistic it is for commuting, but could be a good alternative to flying.

Bring the really fast high speed for the Chicago - Indy route, please!
Click to expand...

Public transit. The trains are slow. The stops are long and grueling, and you can't have a train ride without another train eventually blocking the path, causing us to stop. I've taken several train trips up. I hear the Super Bus isn't as bad, and it takes about 3 hours... I should do that next time...
 
B

BertramCooper

Banned
jehuty said:
This won't happen unless the governors of all 3 states happen to be democrats when the planning and initial development phases are going on. Us here in Wisconsin would have had the same type of rail transit already completed (Milwaukee to the twin cities via Madison) if isnt wasnt for Scott Walker (yet he billions to his road lobby buddies) cancelling the project. Doesn't help that here is a big crowd of people who think trains are a liberal socialist kenyan muslim extremist plan to destroy america or something. You can always tell who they are by the way hey always refer to trains as "choo-choos".
Click to expand...

From what I've read, one of the concepts behind this particular project is to form a coalition between local governments and existing transit authorities that would be capable of accepting federal funding without the direct involvement of the governors of the states. Apparently such an idea was floated after Kasich successfully killed the Cleveland-Columbus-Cincy rail corridor when he was elected back in 2010 (which, to be fair, would have been painfully slow had it been constructed as proposed).

However, it seems very likely that the governors involved could still find ways to kill such a project.
 
H

Hrothgar

Member
30 years to build? By the time it will be finished a 110 mph rail will be even more outdated than it already is now.
 
J

jehuty

Member
BertramCooper said:
From what I've read, one of the concepts behind this particular project is to form a coalition between local governments and existing transit authorities that would be capable of accepting federal funding without the direct involvement of the governors of the states. Apparently such an idea was floated after Kasich successfully killed the Cleveland-Columbus-Cincy rail corridor when he was elected back in 2010 (which, to be fair, would have been painfully slow had it been constructed as proposed).

However, it seems very likely that the governors involved could still find ways to kill such a project.
Click to expand...

That might work bu I wouldn't hold my breath. I mean us hee in Milwaukee already had a contract with a company to supply the trains (Talgo), and a facility all set. Really, we near the finish line but Walker found a way. This screwed Milwaukee in particular which everyone knows was Walkers main intention (democrat conrolled Milwaukee doesnt vote republican or Scott Walker for that matter).

We here in the sates also have to remember that Big Oil and their minions (the road builders) hold probably more sway than any other lobby in the U.S. I mean, oil profits are soaring yet they get subsidized. And the roads, literally hundreds of billions of dollars poured into roads that are not needed (also creating the need to repair/maintain the new roads).

It makes tons of sense to link up cities by rail transit to ease congestion on the roads (and a ton of other positive outcomes from rail transit). But here in the U.S, its an us vs them mentality which means we can't have nice things.
 
E

ElectricBlanketFire

Member
Will never happen in a million years. The Cubs can't even make improvements to their own stadium without some alderman sticking his snoot in everyone's business blocking production.
 
D

daveo42

Banned
This would be fantastic as long as the price was right. I am usually in Chicago once a year visiting friends and driving up to Columbus from Cinci might be worth it to spend 5 hours doing what I want on a train instead of driving it.

The only other option right now is hopping on MegaBus or something similar atm if you really want public transit.

Ignatz Mouse said:
This would make going to Origins Game Fair a lot simpler.
Click to expand...

This would probably help in getting more people out to Origins every year. Great for the whole area really in Columbus.
 
S

Seraphis Cain

bad gameplay lol
I like how it almost looks like it takes a sharp turn specifically to avoid Logan County.

Not that I'd blame them. Fuck this place. =/
 
I

iamblades

Member
110 mph is half assed non high-speed rail. Barely better than driving when you consider parking and getting on the train, then maybe having to rent a car when you get off..

When are we going to actually get serious about this shit.

Need to add Indianapolis, Louisville, Cleveland and Cincinatti, and it needs to be real fucking high speed, ie. TGV or Shinkansen level trains. None of this glorified freight train bullshit..
 
B

bucknuticus

Member
Yeeeeeeeeees do it, would make my trips to chicago so much easier and relaxing.

Shit i just want some kind of mass transit here at all. Compared to other cities our size we have the shittiest mass transit around.
 
S

snacknuts

we all knew her
I have a hard time envisioning a scenario in which this comes to fruition. There is already talk of reducing Amtrak service between Chicago and Indy, and I can't imagine Columbus, OH would have more people regularly going to Chicago than Indy does.
 
R

rrs

Member
Real high speed rail isn't going to happen outside of the Northeast and California, Amtrak is already losing money running every line except for their current not so high speed line in the Northeast Megalopolis.
 
B

Bad_Boy

time to take my meds
what happened to that cross continent super high speed train? i want to go from flordia to washington state in ~5 hours.
 
V

vas_a_morir

Banned
BertramCooper said:
A lot.

Headquarters for numerous large companies (Nationwide, Wendy's, Battelle, Cardinal Health, Limited Brands, Abercrombie & Fitch, among many others), Ohio State, a great arts scene, awesome food, etc.

A direct rail connection to Chicago would be great for us.




What a joke.

Columbus is actually growing. Cincy is shrinking.
Click to expand...

Yes, it was a joke.
 
I

Ignatz Mouse

Banned
BertramCooper said:
A lot.

Headquarters for numerous large companies (Nationwide, Wendy's, Battelle, Cardinal Health, Limited Brands, Abercrombie & Fitch, among many others), Ohio State, a great arts scene, awesome food, etc.

A direct rail connection to Chicago would be great for us.




What a joke.

Columbus is actually growing. Cincy is shrinking.
Click to expand...

JP Morgan Chase also has a huge part of its infrastrucure there, back from when Bank One was there.
 
D

devilhawk

Member
When I read the thread I was interested because of the implications for the Midwest.

But it's just eastern time zone crap.

And just a basic passenger rail train. Most of the Midwest like KC, STL and Chicago have had that for many decades.
 
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