INDIANAPOLIS | Nearly impervious to blizzards and floods, it's a revolutionary people and cargo moving machine good for the environment, as well as unemployed steelworkers. And, best of all, it won't cost taxpayers a dime.
That's the pitch about a dozen state lawmakers heard Monday from Russell Foundation, a group wanting to build a monorail system from East Chicago to Indianapolis.
"We are proposing to build this, if you like, on abandoned rail lines," said John Sellars, founder and chief engineer of Advanced Transit Solutions LLC, which he said provides propulsion system for roller coasters and a U.S. Senate people mover.
For Indiana, the group proposes a suspended monorail system, which could accommodate cargo containers, and would run on quiet linear induction motors fueled only by solar collectors and wind turbines mounted to overhead guideways.
"You could have 5-foot floods here and still travel on this," Sellars said.
The group said it has private financing and merely needs an audience with top state officials to help secure right-of-way. Supporters even said they would like to reopen shuttered Northwest Indiana steel mills to produce raw materials for the project.
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