Iowa City a key building block of the Midwest rail hub

America is buzzing about high-speed rail today, and no community is more excited than Iowa City, where I visited this afternoon.

It was also an exciting trip for me as Iowa City became the 100th American city I've visited since becoming Transportation Secretary! I went there to announce some terrific news: a $230 million grant for planning and constructing intercity rail service between Iowa City and Chicago, through the Quad Cities.

Now, $230 million is a big deal, but the money itself is not nearly as big a deal as the idea it embodies--a revitalized American passenger rail system--and the jobs it will create.

When I Tweeted and posted on Facebook about our high-speed rail grants this morning, I called the 54 projects we selected the "building blocks of high-speed corridors."

And the award I announced in Iowa City is just that, a first step toward introducing passenger rail service on an emerging high-speed rail corridor.

Work will include construction of a new main line track, rehabilitation of existing track, and installation of new crossovers, siding tracks, and signal improvements. It will add new rolling stock and construct three new passenger rail stations.

These improvements will allow for two round trip trains per day, and Iowa City, the Quad Cities, and Geneseo will benefit tremendously from their enhanced link to downtown Chicago. And, since several of the stations along the line will offer easy transit links, the overall ease will be that much greater.

Convenient access to a rail station where you can be whisked to your destination. That's the promise of the Obama Administration's innovative high-speed rail program. And the award I announced to day in Iowa City--the 100th American city I've visited--will help make that possible.

 

Comments

[Murray Bodin]

Rail, rail, rail, everywhere but between New York City and New Jersey. Something wrong here. How many projects get funded before one that is shovel ready gets some help? Actually, past shovel ready! Work has been started. Now it seems to be stopped.

I get upset when it seems everyone is in the action but the NY NJ Metropolitan area.

[Harvey Botzman]

If Iowa City is to become an important Midwest rail hub it must have unboxed bicycle carriage on the trains entering and leaving its station.

It is important, at this very primary stage of planning for high speed rail passenger service, for all the projects funded by this $2.4 billion award to agree to have a section of a rail passenger car on each train for the carriage of at least 10 unboxed bicycles.

A. Unboxed carriage of bicycles in rail passenger cars encourages and allows ease of travel to and within each region where both high speed rail passenger and conventional speed rail passenger trains will operate.
1. In particular, there are many residents, bicyclists and non-bicyclists, of major urban areas who do not regularly own or use a motor vehicle for transportation.
2. Bicyclists prefer to use their own bicycle when touring in cities, suburbs, and rural areas other than their place of residence; and when visiting friends and relatives.
a. The use of the bicyclist’s personal vehicle (a bicycle is a vehicle in every state) provides more comfort; is usually better equipped with safety and other accessories than a rented or borrowed bicycle.
3. Amtrak can greatly increase its market share of the leisure travel market by making certain all it’s future high speed and conventional speed trains have the facilities to carry unboxed bicycles in Amtrak passenger cars.

See the Secretary's blog announcing "DOT awards $2.4 billion to continue developing 21st century high-speed passenger rail corridors" for a continuation of this comment.

[Pex]

This should definitely be a boost to the local economy.

[torrent download]

This will boost to the local economy...