Midwest High Speed Rail: Iowa City Rail Supporters Grow, Using Facebook

Monday, March 23, 2009

(Hat tip Trains4America)

The Iowa City Chamber of Commerce is encouraging supporters of rail to Chicago to add their name to a list of supporters, join the Facebook group "I Support Iowa City Rail to Chicago" and tell friends and legislators that you support passenger rail.

Mike Skehan said...: Is building High-Speed Rail (HSR) really worth it?

Well, according to our new Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, he’s quoted as saying “Yes, I do, Profoundly.” He goes on to call it a transformational initiative, on par with building the great interstate highway and airline systems, we enjoy. (http://transportation.nationaljournal.com/2009/03/is-highspeed-rail-worth-it.php)
The NE corridor gets it, VP Biden gets it, and so does the Pacific Northwest.

Washington and Oregon, through our own DOT’s have been deploying HSR along the Cascade Corridor between Eugene, OR and Canada since 1999. Tilt trains, capable of 125 mph, have been gradually defining a market share and offering an alternative to driving or flying. Results so far are impressive – trains carry many more travelers between Seattle and Portland than do airlines, using half the fuel and producing half the pollution per passenger mile at a lower cost. This is an amazing statistic, considering our fast trains are still limited to just 79 mph for lack of federally mandated safety, signal and track improvements.

We look forward to working with Sec. LaHood to offer America an additional option for travel, while reducing our needs for imported oil and polluting our atmosphere less.

Mike Skehan, All Aboard Washington; 6:01 PM
Andrew Moore said...: We have a similar Facebook movement in Florida http://polkfl.blogspot.com/2009/03/sun-rail-on-facebook.html; 7:48 AM

Midwest High Speed Rail