BY TIM VANDENACK, Truth Staff
tvandenack@etruth.com
ELKHART -- Federal authorities will consider a third possible high-speed rail route through northern Indiana if the needed funding materializes.
Two possible corridors through Indiana on the proposed Chicago-Cleveland high-speed passenger line already have been identified.
The more northerly one would pass through Gary, South Bend and Elkhart en route to Cleveland while a more southerly route, favored by the Indiana Department of Transportation, would go through Gary, Warsaw and Fort Wayne.
Concerned about being bypassed, though, South Bend leaders proposed a compromise corridor -- through Gary, South Bend, Goshen, Warsaw and Fort Wayne -- and the third option will get consideration.
"Whether that's practical, we don't know," INDOT Deputy Commissioner Leigh Morris told a group of Elkhart officials Thursday. But if the feds OK grant funding for the Chicago-Cleveland line, "that's going to be studied."
INDOT has requested $2.82 million in federal stimulus funds to build the Chicago-Cleveland line. It's hardly a given the money will be granted, though, another potential hitch in the process.
There are around $320 billion worth of high-speed passenger rail proposals around the country, vying for $8.2 billion in stimulus funding, according to Morris. Beyond that, the coalition of Midwest leaders promoting high-speed rail out of Chicago favor development first of routes going to Detroit, Milwaukee and St. Louis.
INDOT's support of the southerly Chicago-Cleveland corridor through Fort Wayne stems in part from the lower cost of developing rail there and the higher anticipated ridership, according to Morris.
INDOT also worries a new passenger rail line through South Bend and Elkhart might interfere with the much heavier freight traffic along that corridor -- 100-plus freight trains per day compared with just two down south.
The third option through South Bend, Goshen and Fort Wayne would offer the advantage of hitting all the key population centers in northern Indiana, Morris said.
On the downside, it would require interconnecting three separate rail networks.
The diesel-powered trains on the proposed Chicago-Cleveland line would reach up to 110 mph and average 90 mph, said Morris, addressing the Greater Elkhart Chamber of Commerce. Fencing, overpasses and underpasses would separate the high-speed line from other traffic, helping assure safety.
Also in the works, Morris said, is a $71.36 million request for stimulus funds to upgrade the congested Norfolk Southern rail line through northwest Indiana. That line passes through Elkhart as it continues east.