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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-01-22 Correspondence - High Speed Rail Alliance~ High Speed Rail ~Alliance August 25, 2022 Cyndy Andrus Mayor City of Bozeman, MT 121 Rouse Ave. Bozeman, MT 59715 Dear Mayor Andrus, I am writing today to let you know about a project that sets the foundation for connecting your community to train train service and to ask you to support the project. Amtrak is seeking federal funding to upgrade Chicago Union Station and create better routes to it. Known as Chicago Access, this program has local, regional, and national significance. Trains are multi-purpose mobility machines and are a great way to connect many communities- ranging from major cities to small towns-at once. The network needs to serve more people in more places. That means investing in: • Better tracks to improve average speeds and reliability, • More daily departures to serv more people, • State-of-the-art trains to reduce operating costs and attract more riders. As the center of the network, fixing Chicago Union Station is the foundation for improvements elsewhere. It offers direct service to 375 cities and towns in more than 36 states. In 2019, more than 15 million passengers boarded trains at the station, making it busier than Midway airport. You can learn more about the program at HSRail.org/chicago-access Mayor Lightfoot of Chicago is leading the attached letter of support. The target release date is September 15. Please email me at rick@hsrail.org if you would like to add your name. Feel free to call me at 773-334-6758 if you would like to learn more. Richard Harnish Executive Director HIGH SPEED RAIL ALLIANCE 4765 N. Lincoln Ave Chicago, IL 60625 773.334.6758 I HSRail.org The Honorable Pete Buttigieg Secretary of Transportation U.S. Department of Transportation 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20590 August 18, 2022 Dear Secretary Buttigieg and Administrator Bose, The Honorable Amit Bose Administrator Federal Railroad Administration 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE Washington, DC 20590 We write today as mayors of Midwest cities to express our enthusiasm for the MEGA Program grant application supporting the Chicago Access/Michigan East Program, the purpose of which is to reduce passenger rail travel time, improve reliability, and permit the expansion of service throughout the Midwest. We recognize that passenger rail has the vast potential to lead to greater interconnectivity and cooperation among governments, enterprises, communities, and individuals in the Midwest region and nationwide. There are two key components of the Chicago Access/Michigan East Program. The first is to add new, and improve existing, rail infrastructure just south of Chicago Union Station (CUS) and in southwest Michigan. By so doing, passenger train movements between Chicago and cities all over the Midwest will require less time. In addition, train movements in and out of CUS will be more in the control of Amtrak and other passenger railroads, leading to improved reliability. Specifically, this program will: • Significantly reduce delays and trip time on the Chicago-Champaign-Carbondale line by increasing the speed of the connection to CUS; • Improve train schedule reliability along the Chicago-Joliet-Normal-Springfield-St. Louis route; • Lay a new section of double-track in Michigan to improve service and increase capacity between Chicago, Kalamazoo, Ann Arbor and Detroit Second is a program of improvements planned at CUS itself, the fourth-busiest Amtrak station nationwide and the busiest station outside of the Northeast Corridor. Almost 40 million passengers pass through CUS annually. On an average weekday, the station handles approximately 140,000 passengers and hosts more than 300 trains. The program brings the nearly century-old CUS into a state of good repair and significantly improves passenger circulation and safety. Based on the Union Station Master Plan developed with the City of Chicago, the program will improve the passenger experience by modernizing and expanding CUS platforms and concourses. Plus, new platforms and waiting areas will be added, thus allowing for service expansion. Finally, the program will address the longstanding ventilation issues that have affected passengers and employees of both Amtrak and Metra for decades. Chicago Union Station plays a central role in Amtrak's vision for passenger rail in the Midwest and is the hub of Amtrak's vision for expansion that will connect the Midwest and the nation, all while increasing ridership. That vision calls for creating new and improved routes serving Illinois, Missouri, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. Further, CUS is identified in the Federal Rail Administration's Midwest Regional Rail Plan as the center of a "hub and spoke" Midwest rail network. Similar to Amtrak, FRA envisions CUS as the connection point for most existing and proposed routes in the Midwest. All of this will be accomplished in an energy-efficient manner that reduces our carbon footprint through clean and convenient passenger rail. This effort has been a vision for many years, and we are excited to have the opportunity to make it a reality thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. We urge your support to help our region realize this vision for a connected future. We appreciate your consideration of our regional hopes of improving passenger rail in the Midwest and beyond, and revitalizing investment in our regional infrastructure. The program's success will depend on significant investment and support from the federal, state, and local governments, as well as partner agencies, and we stand as committed partners. Sincerely, Mayor Lori Lightfoot City of Chicago, Illinois Mayor City of Rockford Satya Rhodes-Conway Mayor Ci of Madison, WI Mayor Mike Shuztbach Mayor City of Effingham, IL Mayor City of