Posted on 10/05/2011 3:13:46 PM PDT by Libloather
US Oks $196.5M for high-speed Chicago-Detroit rail
AP – 25 mins ago
KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Transportation has approved $196.5 million for part of a high-speed Amtrak passenger rail link between Chicago and Detroit, Michigan U.S. Sens. Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow said Wednesday.
The funds now being obligated cover work from Kalamazoo in western Michigan to Dearborn in suburban Detroit, the Democratic lawmakers said.
The grant to the Michigan Department of Transportation will cover track and signal improvements.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Also missed is the fact that towns like Albion, Grass Lake, Chelsea etc have spent a lot of local money to restore the historic old depots. There will be a major court fight every step of the way if they attempt to tear those down to put in a separate track for high speed.
The old Detroit train depot was an architectural masterpiece back then, just like many of the other buildings in Detroit which have now fallen into ruin.
I'm guessing more like the planning only for the first 10 miles, environmental impact statements, buying up property/stealing it, and so forth. We've got a 17-mile project they're pushing here on Oahu that has gone from costing 2 billion when it was sold to the public, now 5-15 billion conservative estimate.
I was shocked, I say, shocked when I read some ding dong official of the Guvmint stated that this so-called “high-speed” train project shaved a big 30 minutes off the 5 hour trip....which is never going to happen with the late departures/arrivals typical of Amtrak. Boondoggle Bloody Waste!
Denver's Union Station is tiny by comparison, but maybe that is its saving grace. It still serves as an AMTRAC station and will soon be a light rail hub.
For those of us who never heard the name, who is/was Willie Green?
an advocate for anything passenger train related (and former freeper)
The average speed s supposed to be something like 62 mph.
So basically, right around the speed SCAMTRACK Runs today. LOL
The misleading thing about those “Detroit in ruins” pics is, I remember what a fetid crap-pile downtown Detroit was in the 1960s and 1970s, and how much of that crap-pile has been cleared to make room for the eventual building boom, or maybe colonization by Amish farmers.
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