By Tim Vandenack, Truth Staff
tvandenack@etruth.com
The dream of high-speed rail between Chicago and Cleveland through Elkhart County edges along.
The Indiana Department of Transportation announced Tuesday that it submitted an application to the feds for $2.82 billion to help develop a high-speed rail route across northern Indiana between the two cities. It still hasn't been decided if the rail line would pass through Elkhart County, however, which is on one of two routes being considered. A more southerly trajectory through Fort Wayne is the other option.
According to the funding application, operations along the new rail line would start in 2017. Trains would average 80.8 mph, reaching up to 110 mph, and travel time between Chicago and Cleveland would range from four hours and 22 minutes to four hours and 48 minutes. The number of round trips would total eight to nine per day, all during peak travel times, 6 a.m. to 8:20 p.m.
As is, travel speed between the two cities on existing Amtrak trains -- the Capitol Limited and the Lake Shore Limited -- averages 50.9 mph, with the trip taking from six hours and five minutes to seven hours and five minutes. The carrier currently provides two daily round-trip offerings, which, depending on direction, pass through Elkhart in the early morning or late evening.
The possibility of high-speed rail here in northern Indiana and Elkhart County has been discussed for years and the talk gained renewed vigor with the inclusion of $8 billion in President Obama's economic stimulus package to spur such development. Some leaders here think if high-speed rail is the wave of the future, they want Elkhart County to be a part.
Even so, development of high-speed rail here is hardly a given.
For one thing, competition for funds from the $8 billion pot is fierce. The Federal Railroad Administration, which hopes to announce who gets what this winter, has received an "overwhelming response" from across the United States to its request for funding applications, it said last week.
Beyond that, it's far from certain Elkhart County would sit on the Chicago-Cleveland line should the route come to pass. Though one option has the rail passing through South Bend, Elkhart and Waterloo, earlier studies had tabbed a more southerly route through Plymouth, Warsaw and Fort Wayne as the more favorable crossing through northern Indiana.
At any rate, INDOT spokesman Will Wingfield noted that those studies are several years old. If the INDOT application is approved, further inquiries would be necessary to select which is the best route.
"At this point, I want to be clear in stressing we have not made a decision in routing," Wingfield said.
If the Fort Wayne corridor were selected, Elkhart, South Bend and Niles, Mich., would be linked to a station stop on that trajectory at Plymouth via feeder bus service, according to INDOT's application.
Chicago and Ohio authorities back INDOT's application, INDOT said.
Here are a few other specifics about the proposed high-speed rail network across northern Indiana, outlined in a $2.82 billion funding request submitted to the feds by the Indiana Department of Transportation:
* Price tag: The $2.82 billion includes $2.07 billion for track improvements, stations and signals in the Chicago-Cleveland corridor and $292.7 million for eight "next generation" trains.
* The route: The southernmost of two proposed routes through northern Indiana, the one going through Fort Wayne, would follow existing rail corridors used by freight trains. The INDOT application doesn't pinpoint the more northerly corridor, the one through Elkhart County, though Amtrak already travels here.
* Amenities: The 300-seat trains would feature food service, electrical outlets, wireless Internet access, video display panels and roomy seats. They'd tilt on curves for rider comfort, precluding the need to straighten twisty sections.
* Travel time: The estimated Chicago-Cleveland travel time via high-speed rail -- four hours and 22 minutes to four hours and 48 minutes -- compares to five hours and 43 minutes by auto. Travel by air takes one hour and nine minutes but can total up to four hours when parking, ticketing, security clearance and travel into the city center is figured, according to the funding application.
* Profitability: The 350-mile route, which would start running in 2017, would initially operate at a loss, turning a small profit in 2020 or 2021. That prediction hinges on full build-out of a proposed 3,000-mile high-speed network based in Chicago with rail tentacles also reaching out to St. Louis, Detroit and Madison, Wis.
* Funding: Even if the Chicago-Cleveland proposal receives just a portion of the money requested, additional funding opportunities could emerge in years to come, says Indiana Department of Transportation spokesman Will Wingfield.