High Speed Rail Dead in its Tracks?

by Brian Costin In the above video from 2009 the Cato Institute’s Senior Fellow, Randal O’Toole, talks about the impact of high speed rail in Illinois. Fast forward to April 2011, and it appears as if the national high-speed rail plan touted by President Obama is losing significant steam. This blog post from O’Toole explains. “President Obama’s dream...

by Brian Costin

In the above video from 2009 the Cato Institute’s Senior Fellow, Randal O’Toole, talks about the impact of high speed rail in Illinois.

Fast forward to April 2011, and it appears as if the national high-speed rail plan touted by President Obama is losing significant steam. This blog post from O’Toole explains.

“President Obama’s dream of connecting 80 percent of Americans to a high-speed rail line appears to be dead. Congress appropriated $8 billion for high-speed rail in the 2009 stimulus bill and $2 billion more in the 2010 appropriations bill. But, after newly elected governors of Florida, Ohio, and Wisconsin rejected high-speed rail projects in those states, Congress declined to include any more funds in 2011 and it is unlikely to spend any more on this boondoggle as long as Republicans have a hold on the House.”

Unfortunately, it looks like Illinois is still going forward with its costly and ineffective “high speed” rail plans.

Illinois is spending more than $3 billion adding three trains per day (to the current five) between Chicago and St. Louis and increasing average train speeds from 51.6 to 56.8 mph, saving train travelers a half hour on the current 5.5-hour trip. Illinois hopes to eventually boost average speeds to 72.6 mph, but that will require more money.

With the high speed rail boondoggle withering on the vines in Washington D.C., for good cause, let’s hope that Illinois legislators see the writing on the wall and cancel this expensive program before we sinks even deeper into debt.