Midwest High-Speed Rail essays

Midwest High-Speed Rail essays Where would America be without the train? The train and rail are as much a part of American heritage as the land itself. The train connected the east to the west. Trains ushered in the industrial revolution of the later 19th century. Trains not only ushered in industry, but also commerce America into the next century. The high-speed rail proposed to the Midwest will bring people in its cities closer together by the way of lowered cost and travel time. It will create jobs and help finance other important state programs with the revenue it creates. The beauty of the state will be preserved as it runs cleaner than other transits. When up and running theses trains will hopefully cut down the amount of travel on busy interstates which will further benefit our environment. Indiana should proudly be a part and share its weight of such an auspicious event. The question now is whether or not Indiana will help fund Amtrack's new train system. Under Amtrack's proposed plan, called the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative (MMRI), it has been projected that the total capital cost for their Midwest High-Speed Rail, is $3.5 billion. The proposed cost will be divided up by having the federal government contribute 80% of the capital cost, while then allowing the nine states to pick up the remaining 20%. With the nine states only having to pay 20% of a 3.5 billion dollar project cost how could any state pass up this chance. By the year 2010 the MMRI will be up and running and generate a projected total 471 million in revenue. The operation cost per year is only estimated at 347 million, which leaves each state with a nice 14 million to help finance new state project or older state project s that could never be worked into the budget before. Travel time is also a nice quality to the MMRI. What ever the travel time on other convectional forms of transportations will be cut down by at least 2 hours. A trip from Ch ...