Urban infrastructures an issue with high speed rail

By Rob Earnshaw, Times of Northwest Indiana Correspondent

Numerous high-speed rail project ideas sound promising but have to be founded in reality, Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District Executive Director Gerald Hanas told a gathering of transportation planners in Merrillville Friday.

Speaking at a conference hosted by the Indiana High Speed Rail Association at Merrillville's Radisson Hotel, Hanas said that in the denser urban areas are a number of infrastructure issues that need to be considered to make both the South Shore and any possible high-speed rail network function properly. NICTD runs the regions South Shore commuter train service.

"You don't want your train personnel making the announcement that the good news is we've gone 150 mph on a certain segment, but we're going to wait 30 minutes for a coal train to pass," Hanas said. "And we're going to lose that 35 mph advantage we just spent a billion dollars on to try and make your trip more effective."

Hanas said it's important when looking at high-speed rail to not forget about the existing commuter rail infrastructures. He said it might be more beneficial to move from 79 mph (South Shore's current speed limit) to 90 mph with existing commuter trains.

"You're not going to go fast in urban areas," Hanas said.

Another issue, Hanas said, is access to platforms if a high-speed rail network were built in the region -- particularly in older cities in which there is no real estate to build the platforms.

"You have to keep in mind there is limited amount of capacity for train birthing in some of the areas," he said. "That's why it's important for coordination between high speed and commuter rail where there are joint assets to use them effectively."

Proponents of high-speed rail have said the Midwest is woefully behind some other regions and countries in adopting the concept.