Kentucky Should Want a Piece of this

The Chicago Tribune reported today, October 6, 2008 that Chicago would be the hub of a nine-state high speed rail network under legislation that has just passed both the house and senate and will soon be signed into law by the president. The Federal Railroad Safety Improvement Act, among the various safety minded items also authorizes up to 3.4 billion dollars for the creation of these high speed rail corridors and grants to states.

Among Kentucky borders four of the states in the bill: Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, and Ohio. It should only make sense then that Kentucky should want to be a part of this network. Imagine what a high speed connection to Indianapolis, Chicago, Cincinnati, and St. Louis would do for our economy. It would provide competition to the airlines, reduce traffic on our roads, and would encourage tourism between the states.

In most cases, the tracks and right-of-ways are already there...they just need improvements.

I think it would behoove Kentucky to get on board, so to speak, with this plan and work hard to get connected to this high speed system.