A planned high-speed rail route through Fort Wayne failed to receive federal money Thursday, but advocates said the dream is not dead.
The White House announced the winners of $8 billion in grants to spur both the economy and rail access across the country. California, Florida and Illinois were among the big winners, but Indiana received $71.4 million to fix chronic problems in its northwest corner.
The state, along with Ohio and Illinois, sought money for a $2.8 billion passenger rail line connecting Chicago with Cleveland, with one of two possible routes coming through Fort Wayne. That proposal received no money.
Will Wingfield, spokesman for the Indiana Department of Transportation, said the state was still pleased to get the grant to improve some of its most problematic rail lines. Northwest Indiana’s grant of $71.4 million will build passing tracks, high-speed crossovers and signal-system improvements for the Norfolk Southern rail line between Porter and the Illinois state line.
Geoff Paddock, of the Northeast Indiana Passenger Rail Association, said while it was disappointing for Fort Wayne not to get money directly, he said the improvements in northwest Indiana will indirectly help the Summit City. Improving congestion outside Chicago is necessary for any trains to come east to Fort Wayne, he said.
Paddock added there will likely be more federal money coming for rail, and he believes the strong community support for trains in Fort Wayne will keep it high on the list.
"We will keep working at this as long as we need," he said.
Dennis Hodges, vice president of the Indiana High Speed Rail Association, was critical of the state’s lack of desire to pursue federal rail money. He said it was a good move for the state to eventually seek the money, but the state has to step up its efforts to secure money in the future.
"Our sales pitch has to begin right now," he said.
Wingfield said there was heavy competition for the federal money – $57 billion worth of applications for the $8 billion available. He said he is glad the Midwest received about a third of the total money.
Nationally, 13 rail corridors in 31 states received money.
Most of the proposed trains won’t reach the speeds seen in Europe and Asia. California’s trains would be the fastest, exceeding the 200 mph achieved by some trains overseas. Some of the grant money will go toward trains with top speeds of 110 mph, and some – such as the $400 million allotted to Ohio to connect Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Cincinnati by rail – will be for trains traveling no faster than 79 mph.
Other projects awarded the largest grants include:
California: $2.3 billion to begin work on an 800-mile high-speed rail line tying Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay area to Los Angeles and San Diego.
Florida: $1.25 billion to build a rail line connecting Tampa on the state’s Gulf Coast with Orlando in the middle of the state, eventually going south to Miami.
Illinois-Missouri: $1.1 billion to improve a rail line between Chicago and St. Louis so trains travel up to 110 mph.
Wisconsin: $810 million to upgrade and refurbish train stations and install safety equipment on the Madison-to-Milwaukee leg of a line that stretches from Minneapolis to Chicago.
Washington-Oregon: $590 million to upgrade a rail line from Seattle to Portland, Ore.
North Carolina: $520 million for projects that will increase top speeds to 90 mph on trains between Raleigh and Charlotte and double the number of round trips.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
