Preliminary details are on track for rail line

Environmental study for route through the city set for next two years. By Kevin Leininger of The News-Sentinel

After more than two years in bureaucratic hibernation, preliminary environmental work could begin next year on a high-speed rail line passing through Fort Wayne.
The Indiana Department of Transportation is expected to spend about $2.6 million in 2005 and 2006 to identify possible environmental problems caused by the proposed route linking Chicago and Cleveland, said Geoff Paddock, the governor's appointee to the Northeastern Indiana Regional Coordinating Council, a transportation planning agency. A series of public meetings also will be scheduled next year to listen to concerns and establish a construction timetable. >Link

Actual construction will have to wait, however, until Congress and the affected states fund the project - and that hasn't happened yet. Developing the Chicago-to-Cleveland route is expected to cost at least $1.12 billion, and the entire cost of the nine-state area covered by the Midwest Rail Initiative is at least $5 billion.
The Midwest project would create 3,000 miles of track for trains capable of traveling 110 mph. The federal government would pay 80 percent of the cost. Other high-speed lines would link Chicago and Detroit and Chicago with Indianapolis, Louisville, Ky., and Cincinnati.
The state announced in late 2002 the Chicago-Cleveland route would pass through Fort Wayne, rejecting an alternative route through South Bend. But concerns about terrorism and a weak economy, among other factors, have delayed progress, Paddock said.
Completion of an environmental study is a key first step, however, because it will identify possible problems with the route, such as environmentally sensitive areas, historic markers, and the number of people and buildings that would be displaced. Those problems must be identified and addressed before actual costs are known and construction can begin.
The state believes a high-speed train between Chicago and Cleveland could generate 1 million passengers by 2015, with 150,000 coming from Fort Wayne alone. Revenues from fares could exceed $55 million in 10 years, Paddock said.
The federal government could provide $300 million within the next year for environmental clean-up, perhaps in 2006 and 2007. Construction could begin later this decade, Paddock said.