In order to run 12 trains a day, Indiana will have to purchase the route from CSX, and spend tons of money to double track it, signalize it and increase speeds. ...
Why would Indiana have to purchase the route?
The St Louis-Chicago 110-mph upgrades for
Lincoln Service are being done on a route owned by Union Pacific. Did I miss a whispered mention that the UP is going to go away, or that Illinois will try to buy the line? I don't think so. Doubletracking will be needed there in the next round of investment, but UP will own the underlying land.
Even the South of the Lake (SOTL) project to speed trains Detroit-Chicago thru Indiana will probably be a dedicated 110-mph passenger only track. The route has not been selected yet, but the options are to build all or almost all on existing freight R-O-W, from Chicago to Porter. There the Michigan trains peel off onto the existing 110-mph stretch toward Kalamazoo and Detroit. The Norfolk Southern main line, with the
Lake Shore and
Capitol Ltd., heads toward Cleveland and points east. So somebody's gonna spend about $1.5 Billion on SOTL, but the freights are gonna own the land.
South of the Lake will also speed trains from Union Station to a place in Indiana, but before Porter, where the
Cardinal and
Hoosier State will one day make a right turn down to Indianapolis. This project could cut 20 or 30 minutes off the trip time of the
Hoosier State and the
Cardinal.
Meanwhile, the State of Indiana paid consultants for a study of the
Hoosier State.
http://www.in.gov/indot/files/Amtrak_CostBenefitAnalysis_2013.pdf
It's a lousy study that totally ignored any impact on the
Cardinal, LOL, and ignored any dollar value of lives lost to highway traffic that could be avoided with better train service, etc. But it did identify about $200 million worth of upgrades within Indiana alone that would chop about 30 minutes off the run time. With two long new sidings just north of Indianapolis and other stuff, the majority of those upgrades should work well with a new connection (SOTL) into Chicago.
Of course, the study indicated that adding one or two more frequencies on a faster trip would double or triple ridership. Currently the
Cardinal/Hoosier State leaves Indianapolis at 6 a.m. and arrives Chicago at 10 a.m., a 5-hour trip with damn early wake-up call and a tardy, half-day-lost arrival in the Windy City. Getting to Union Station at 9:30 a.m. would be better, arriving 9 a.m. would be much better. And for us sleepyheads, another departure at 7:30 and another at 10 a.m. would be great.
I'm kind of with the Indiana politicians who don't want to sink $200 million into upgrades to get only one or two more trains each way. Certainly not without a lot of those hated federal dollars. LOL.
But if Iowa Pacific gets ready to run 12 trains a day, then an investment of $200 to $500 million by somebody could be a good deal. For Amtrak, for a daily
Cardinal, and for connecting trains at the Chicago hub, shaving an hour or so off Cincinnati-Indianapolis-Chicago (and sharing some costs as well) would be sweet broadus.
Now we only need a federal program to invest a few Billion into various routes and projects like SOTL and upgrading the
Hoosier State route, and then watch ridership soar.
