Golden Spike seminar in Valparaiso makes business case for high-speed rail

The business case for high-speed rail was the focus of the 11th annual Golden Spike seminar at Valparaiso's Harre Union on Thursday morning.

"What really drives this is that transportation, passenger rail and high-speed passenger rail is based on a business case that cannot be refuted," Ohio Department of Transportation Director Jolene Molitoris told about 100 people at the Harre Union.

Molitoris and the State of Ohio are fresh off a big win when it comes to high speed rail. Ohio won $400 million in federal high speed rail stimulus funds for its "3C" rail corridor, which will run from Cleveland to Columbus to Cincinnati.

In all, the federal government is distributing $8 billion in high-speed stimulus funds nationwide, something that will benefit the more than 190 Ohio companies producing goods and services for the rail industry, Molitoris said.

Indiana did not win as big as Ohio in the competition for stimulus funds, reaping just $71 million for upgrades to a congested freight/rail junction in Porter, which is named the Indiana Gateway project.

Both projects are part of the proposed Midwest Regional Rail System spanning eight states.

In the first funding round, the Federal Railroad Administration sent back for more work Indiana's joint application with Illinois and Ohio for a Chicago-to-Gary-to-Cleveland high-speed route.

Gov. Mitch Daniels' representative at the seminar, INDOT Deputy Commissioner Leigh Morris, said Indiana remains committed to landing high-speed rail funds not only for the Chicago-to-Cleveland route but also for one from Chicago-to-Indianapolis-to-Cincinnati.

A slide Morris projected showed Indiana has invested little in tracks and corridors that would be part of the new Midwest Regional Rail System over the years. Indiana has spent just $115,000 on improvements as compared to the $241 million Illinois has poured into the system and the $827 million the eight Midwest states have invested overall.

Economist Alexander Metcalf told the gathering building out the Midwest Regional Rail System will create 58,000 jobs overall and lead to an increase of more than $1.1 billion in annual household income.

Metcalf titled his presentation, "How high-speed rail pays for itself." He contended that federal tax revenue alone generated by the Midwest system and its ancillary development would almost pay for the entire system.

"This says we actually put back most all this income to the federal government that they pay out for the project," Metcalf said.

Those at the conference didn't appear to need much convincing. The audience was made up mainly of those who think they will see big benefits from high-speed rail, including leading European-based rail companies.

Those included France's SNCF, an operator of 1,200 miles of truly high speed rail routes in Europe and 20,000 miles overall, and SYSTRA, an international planning, design and engineering firm.