Hypothetical Plan for Hooiser State Corridor Service

[looshi]

I, like many of you, enjoy to speculate about the future routes and possibilities of Amtrak. I'm not sure, however, if it's best to put this here or in the High-Speed Rail board, so mods feel free to move this if you deem it so. I also want to mention that this plan is purely hypothetical, and so far Indiana hasn't even decided to fund the Hooiser State, let alone expand the service.

Now with the disclaimers out of the way. Here's the PDF I found. It was put together by moderator KJP on the UrbanOhio forum, I believe with some input from All Aboard Ohio. Basically the plan boils down to extending the Hooiser State to Cincinnati, and then focusing on decreasing times and increasing the number departures along the route. The thinking is Cincinnati-Indianapolis-Chicago could be a nice little operation if travel times were a little more reliable. Right now Cincinnati's only option is a 1am Cardinal departure.

So my question is, what do the more experienced arm-chair Amtrak strategists think of this plan? Obviously, it would probably require more political support for passenger rail than we're currently seeing in Ohio or Indiana. I do believe this will happen with time, but it requires the Hoosier State to hang on for the time being. Maybe with the new Midwest Bilevel order there will be equipment for a daily Hooiser State? I know a daily Cardinal was put on hold due to capacity requirements in the east. Would this be a better option? I think this corridor will be difficult-to-impossible to build if we're basing it off the Cardinal. The on-time performance is just too unpredictable.

 

[Nathanael]

At this point, I think the key question is, can localities in Indiana convince the Indiana state government to pay *anything*? If not, the Hoosier State is toast. If yes, we can speculate.

Given the jerkish behavior by the Indiana governor's office (in the matter of state agreement on Amtrak cost allocations) I'm not optimistic. But maybe the legislature can bypass the governor. But the Republican majority in the legislature seems to be in the pocket of the governor. So.

 

[looshi]

At this point, I think the key question is, can localities in Indiana convince the Indiana state government to pay *anything*? If not, the Hoosier State is toast. If yes, we can speculate.

I don't disagree with you there. The route seems to be in real danger, and I think this plan shows how that's a shame. The Indiana DOT seems to be very uncommital on the subject. Maybe I'm just jaded, but saying, "INDOT has been very supportive in the dialogue about how to fund this service" reads to me like "We have no idea how to fund this service."

 

[Nathanael]

I'm hoping that the locality of Lafayette, which seems to be very actively supportive of the train, can figure out something. Perhaps a group of localities could get together and fund the service; it would be really hostile of the Indiana state government to refuse to act as the conduit!

 

[MikefromCrete]

Unfortunately, Indiana state government isn't very interested in rail passenger service. The new bi-level passenger cars would not be available since Indiana (and Ohio) did not participate in the purchase. The cars will belong to Illinois, Michigan and Missouri.

 

[Swadian Hardcore]

Indiana probably won't support it, but if they do eventually then the tracks should all be upgraded to 90 mph. It would attract lots of pax if you can keep it at no more than seven hours. The current Cardinal route would still be used.

About the equipment, I have no idea what they will want by the time Indiana finally gets more support for trains.

 

[afigg]

I don't disagree with you there. The route seems to be in real danger, and I think this plan shows how that's a shame. The Indiana DOT seems to be very uncommital on the subject. Maybe I'm just jaded, but saying, "INDOT has been very supportive in the dialogue about how to fund this service" reads to me like "We have no idea how to fund this service."

The incoming Governor of Indiana, Congressman Mike Pence, is a member of the House Tea Party caucus and is very conservative. The political situation for any state support of the Hoosier State is not likely to improve. The cities that are served by the Hoosier State may try to do something, but without cooperation from the state agencies and Governor, going to be very difficult to do anything. Gov Kasich in Ohio is also obviously not likely to support spending any state money on a Chicago to Indianapolis to Cincinnati corridor service.

The best chance for retaining basic train service in IND and CIN, even with lousy times of the day, in the near term is the Cardinal, better if it can go to daily service somehow. In the interim, the Cardinal/Hoosier State route will get some improvements on the Chicago end from CREATE projects. If federal funding can be found, the proposed south of the lake route with a 110 mph passenger corridor from Chicago to Porter might get built for the Michigan trains (and the LSL and CL). If that happens, it will provide a high speed stub for a future corridor service to Indianapolis and Cincinnati to connect to - when IN and OH are willing to provide state funds for intercity passenger rail service. But that could take multiple election cycles.