The High Speed Rail Alliance, a non-profit organization advocating for efficient passenger transportation services in the United States, has developed a plan for the American Midwest called...
The High Speed Rail Alliance, a non-profit organization advocating for efficient passenger transportation services in the United States, has developed a plan for the American Midwest called "Crossrail Chicago," an adaptation of various government proposals to improve rail service in, around, and between major population centers like Chicago, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Louisville, Milwaukee, and more. This seminar explores some of the logistics involved in network planning for an effective transportation system across a large region, focusing on the infrastructure in its most central city of Chicago. This means station renovations and expansions, through-running trains, track upgrades and electrification, eliminating grade crossings, inter-modal connections with airports and bus terminals, accessible high-level boarding, and offering greater service to surrounding cities.
CrossRail Chicago is the Alliance’s proposal to connect and upgrade existing Metra lines to create an electrified, passenger-dedicated mainline through the city. This link would provide intercity train service to key locations in downtown, as well as O’Hare International Airport. CrossRail Chicago would span the metro area with high-capacity, passenger-focused rail lines, and form the core of a Midwest high-speed rail network. Watch this video to learn more about the project, and what needs to happen at the state and federal level to make it a reality.
CrossRail will upgrade and connect several existing rail corridors to create electrified, high-capacity routes into and through Chicago. It will also expand Chicago Union Station as the hub of the nation’s passenger rail network. CrossRail can expand service to hundreds of cities and towns across the country.
The beauty of CrossRail is that all the major parts, the rail corridors and the stations, are already in place. Just a few key connections and upgrades are needed to pull everything together. Early work is already underway, but Congress must fully fund the Federal Railroad Administration to turn this vision into reality.
Contrary to popular belief, it is both possible and preferable to rehabilitate an infrastructure system designed exclusively for automobiles in favor of one that supports trains. In short: the United States is well-suited for high-speed inter-city rail. But implementing HSR effectively means integrating it into transportation networks within and around the cities it connects. This means coordinating between regional authorities to design transportation services with the goal of creating valuable city-pair connections and self-sustaining corridors. With a rail network plan, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts! The Midwest's position at the center of the American rail system makes it particularly important for necessary inter-regional networks.
This is a long video; but interesting and approachable even if you know very little about trains. Being a webinar, it's not the usual flashy journalistic media representations of infrastructure you see in YouTube transit videos that get a million views. But the presentation that Rick Harnish gives is informative nonetheless. This is an important kind of content for people actually interested in understanding what goes into planning, approving, constructing, and operating transportation networks for high-speed rail, not just getting a high-level sense of "vroom fast train cool," which, though entertaining, is all but self-evident. I like it also because it's optimistic: the High Speed Rail Alliance has an actual plan to improve passenger rail in each region of the country. There is a pathway forward here!
Americans tend to fall into a spiraling sense of inevitability when it comes to public transportation and specifically passenger rail infrastructure. The consensus is that transit is doomed to fail because... uh, the US is big, or hey I like my car, or something about bureaucracy, or whatever. The phrase "I'd love high-speed rail in the US, but you could never build it here" is commonplace. It is also objectively incorrect. Absolutely, unambiguously, completely wrong. There is utility in funding and operating HSR in the United States, and it is more than possible. High-speed rail is a megaproject, and that means it will cost money: but the technology is proven, reliable, and scalable; and we've built things like it before. It's a matter of awareness and will. Alon Levy et al. in the Transit Costs Project have identified some of the reasons why American infrastructure is 10x more expensive than it is in peer nations. None of these things are essential, though: every single problem we face is solvable if we choose to recognize and address it. An attitude of defeatism toward infrastructure is not constructive or beneficial. Fundamentally, building transit starts with being open to and excited for it.
The High Speed Rail Alliance is a valuable resource because it has the specific goal of helping both constituents and politicians realize the economic and social benefit of high-speed rail. Their webinars, which usually happen bi-weekly, can be a useful way for you to engage in discussions about HSR development and provide insight into potential projects. If you're interested in seeing HSR in the United States, I encourage you to join their mailing list to keep up with ongoing, upcoming, and theoretical projects. You can glance at regional plans on their website, as well as some associated project articles:
Click to view high-speed rail regional, corridor, and project information
I realize I neglected to link any of the other webinars. These are not focused on CrossRail Chicago specifically, but the concepts they will discuss are relevant to projects like it. 9/8: The...
I realize I neglected to link any of the other webinars. These are not focused on CrossRail Chicago specifically, but the concepts they will discuss are relevant to projects like it.
9/8: The Benefits of Regional Rail (virtual) – Regional Rail means running frequent trains on memory schedules (such as every 15 minutes in major cities, and every two hours statewide) to serve many types of travelers—not just those commuting to and from downtown for work.
9/15: Travel Demand Modeling for Passenger Rail (in-person/virtual) – Planning successful passenger-rail projects involves estimating travel demand and ridership, as well as analyzing potential benefits, such as the boost to local economies from travelers drawn by better service.
Recent events:
8/16: Complete California High-Speed Rail in Five Years? – The California High-Speed Rail project will fundamentally transform how people move around the state, spur economic growth, create a cleaner environment, and preserve agricultural lands and natural habitat –and construction continues every day on the project and service is slated to start within the Central Valley in 2030…but what would it take for the entire project to be done and in service from Los Angeles to San Francisco within 5 years?
8/4: Dallas to Fort Worth High-Speed Rail – The North Central Texas Council of Governments has been leading the locally funded High-Speed Transportation Connections Study (HSTCS) between Dallas and Fort Worth since 2020. The study aims to environmentally clear a corridor in the fastest growing metro in the country to connect with other planned high-speed transportation projects in Texas, including the Dallas to Houston High-Speed Rail project by Texas Central.
7/28: Passenger Rail Developments in North Carolina – An analysis of statewide rail initiatives in North Carolina, including safety, planning, engineering, construction, and freight and passenger programs.
The High Speed Rail Alliance, a non-profit organization advocating for efficient passenger transportation services in the United States, has developed a plan for the American Midwest called "Crossrail Chicago," an adaptation of various government proposals to improve rail service in, around, and between major population centers like Chicago, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Louisville, Milwaukee, and more. This seminar explores some of the logistics involved in network planning for an effective transportation system across a large region, focusing on the infrastructure in its most central city of Chicago. This means station renovations and expansions, through-running trains, track upgrades and electrification, eliminating grade crossings, inter-modal connections with airports and bus terminals, accessible high-level boarding, and offering greater service to surrounding cities.
For a great four-minute overview of CrossRail Chicago, complete with pretty renderings, see the video CrossRail Chicago: Making High Speed Rail in America Possible.
Contrary to popular belief, it is both possible and preferable to rehabilitate an infrastructure system designed exclusively for automobiles in favor of one that supports trains. In short: the United States is well-suited for high-speed inter-city rail. But implementing HSR effectively means integrating it into transportation networks within and around the cities it connects. This means coordinating between regional authorities to design transportation services with the goal of creating valuable city-pair connections and self-sustaining corridors. With a rail network plan, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts! The Midwest's position at the center of the American rail system makes it particularly important for necessary inter-regional networks.
This is a long video; but interesting and approachable even if you know very little about trains. Being a webinar, it's not the usual flashy journalistic media representations of infrastructure you see in YouTube transit videos that get a million views. But the presentation that Rick Harnish gives is informative nonetheless. This is an important kind of content for people actually interested in understanding what goes into planning, approving, constructing, and operating transportation networks for high-speed rail, not just getting a high-level sense of "vroom fast train cool," which, though entertaining, is all but self-evident. I like it also because it's optimistic: the High Speed Rail Alliance has an actual plan to improve passenger rail in each region of the country. There is a pathway forward here!
Americans tend to fall into a spiraling sense of inevitability when it comes to public transportation and specifically passenger rail infrastructure. The consensus is that transit is doomed to fail because... uh, the US is big, or hey I like my car, or something about bureaucracy, or whatever. The phrase "I'd love high-speed rail in the US, but you could never build it here" is commonplace. It is also objectively incorrect. Absolutely, unambiguously, completely wrong. There is utility in funding and operating HSR in the United States, and it is more than possible. High-speed rail is a megaproject, and that means it will cost money: but the technology is proven, reliable, and scalable; and we've built things like it before. It's a matter of awareness and will. Alon Levy et al. in the Transit Costs Project have identified some of the reasons why American infrastructure is 10x more expensive than it is in peer nations. None of these things are essential, though: every single problem we face is solvable if we choose to recognize and address it. An attitude of defeatism toward infrastructure is not constructive or beneficial. Fundamentally, building transit starts with being open to and excited for it.
The High Speed Rail Alliance is a valuable resource because it has the specific goal of helping both constituents and politicians realize the economic and social benefit of high-speed rail. Their webinars, which usually happen bi-weekly, can be a useful way for you to engage in discussions about HSR development and provide insight into potential projects. If you're interested in seeing HSR in the United States, I encourage you to join their mailing list to keep up with ongoing, upcoming, and theoretical projects. You can glance at regional plans on their website, as well as some associated project articles:
Click to view high-speed rail regional, corridor, and project information
Midwest:
California and the Southwest:
Northeast:
Southeast:
Texas and the South Central Region:
Northwest
Inter-Regional Trains
I realize I neglected to link any of the other webinars. These are not focused on CrossRail Chicago specifically, but the concepts they will discuss are relevant to projects like it.
Recent events: