Midwest High Speed Rail Association 2013 Progress Report It’s been a big year for the Midwest High Speed Rail Association. We made major progress on our core initiatives and enhanced our standing as one of the nation’s most innovative and effective transportation policy reform organizations—and we couldn’t have done it without the thou-sands of members and allies like you who stood with us every step of the way.

We’re proud to report on some of the highlights of our work in 2013.

Trains Everywhere

The Midwest High Speed Rail Association’s (MHSRA) top priority is to bring fast, frequent and dependable trains to more people throughout the region. This will require larger federal and state appropriations.

■ We are partnering with the National Association of Railroad Passengers (NARP) to push for an annual $14 billion authorization for passenger rail. In September 2013, we jointly issued a set of policy recommendations to promote an improved and expanded nationwide passen-ger rail system. We are gearing up for a full advocacy campaign in the coming year.

■ We made an important advocacy breakthrough with CrossRail Chicago, described in detail below.

■ At the regional level, we played a key role in convincing the Illinois legislature to raise its annual appropriation for state Amtrak service from $28 million to $34 million during a year when most other line items were reduced. The increase was necessitated by the Passenger Rail and Reinvestment Act of 2008, which removed federal support for passenger rail routes less than 750 miles long.

■ We also had an impact on saving Amtrak’s Hoosier State from Chicago to Indianapolis. After this line lost federal funding, a number of Indiana communities and citizens came together to save the rail service. This summer, we mobilized our members to send email messages to Governor Mike Pence, attend rallies, and speak at public hearings. On October 15, Governor Pence and the Indiana Department of Transportation reached an agreement to fund the service.

■ We partnered with NARP to produce two white papers within the last 12 months. The first paper, released in February 2013, outlines the value of long-distance trains and offers sug-gestions on how to improve them. The second is a proposal to increase frequencies on the Chicago–New York route. The City of Toledo, Ohio, provided us with $8,000 to build support for this initiative, including meeting with local and regional stakeholders and promoting the benefits of growing service on this route.

■ In January, CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 aired a segment titled “High Speed Rail Boondoggle,” attacking the U.S. high-speed and inter-city rail program. At $53 million, the Vermont program was a low-cost project that gave a lot of bang for the buck. But the unbalanced CNN report did not portray this side of the story. We galvanized our supporters, who sent Anderson Cooper and his producers over 3,100 emails demanding that future reports on this topic include the critical voices of high-speed rail advocates and experts. They mentioned our “email bomb” several times in their next report.

The Network Core

Fast, uninterrupted access to and through Chicago is critical to reducing travel times, improv-ing on-time performance, and generating more ridership on all passenger rail service through-out the region. Therefore, MHSRA places a high emphasis on the core infrastructure shared by all routes.

MHSRA is advocating for a major overhaul of Chicago Union Station, direct access to O’Hare International Airport and the construction of dedicated passenger trunk lines into Chicago from several directions. The trunks would be designed for a variety of trains, including modern high-performance commuter trains, airport express trains and long-distance high-speed trains.

Coalition partners discuss successful Save the Hoosier State campaign at MHSRA’s fall meeting in Indianapolis.

Chicago Union Station

Chicago’s Union Station is the epicenter of the Midwest’s passenger rail network. It is urgent that it be expanded to han-dle the ever-increasing popularity of train travel.

The City of Chicago is leading a multi-agency effort to design the needed expansions. MHSRA is providing input into the process by serving on a civic ad-visory committee. With the help of MGLM Architects, we facilitated the develop-ment of new concepts for the station con-course. The improvements would include enhanced amenities, more light and open space, better public safety, and upgraded retail and dining options.

Our Union Station proposal is featured on a dedicated website FixUnionStation.com. It puts the focus on enhancing the travel experience by opening up the concourse spaces and improving circulation throughout the station. The website also provides visitors with tools to communicate their input to the City of Chicago and Amtrak.

CrossRail Chicago

We made a major breakthrough with our CrossRail Chicago proposal, which would create the Chicago area infrastructure needed for high-speed rail’s success. The proposal has been outlined at a new dedicated website, CrossRailChicago.org.

With CrossRail, we propose combining several already proposed commuter and high-speed rail projects into a coordinated program designed to high-speed standards. Each segment would garner more ridership and revenue than if these projects stood alone. It would combine these ef-forts into a unified system serving more than 24 million passengers annually.

Just as importantly, CrossRail knits various con-stituencies into a much stronger whole, creating a stronger coalition for obtaining funding.

We have been meeting with various stakehold-ers to get their feedback and judge their level of support. Based on the very positive response, we believe that CrossRail has transformed the conversation about high-speed rail in the Chicago area.

MHSRA has provided input in the City of Chicago’s plan for Union Station.

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The most powerful element of CrossRail Chicago is a new connection between McCormick Place and Union Station

South-of-the-Lake Reroute

The South-of-the-Lake Reroute, is a proposal by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) to construct a new, dedicated-passenger trunkline from Chicago to Michigan City, IN. This project will determine the extent of passenger rail in the region for the next two decades. The initial design is included in a Tier I Environmental Impact Study for the Chicago–Detroit corridor led by MDOT in partnership with the Illinois, Indiana and United States departments of transportation.

Depending upon its design, the Reroute will funnel between seven and ten routes into Chicago—from major cities like Detroit, Cleveland, and Indianapolis. As such, it is one of the most important passenger rail projects in the Midwest. This is a huge chance to pave the way for high-speed rail in the future, and we are working to make sure we don’t let this opportunity pass us by.

In the fall of 2012, MDOT accepted public comments during preparation of their Purpose and Need Statement. Normally, few comments are received during the early stages of this type of planning process. But the Midwest High Speed Rail Association gathered 575 comments from the public asking that the needs of future 220-mph trains be included in the plans for the Reroute segment.

As a result of input from our supporters, MDOT modified their Purpose and Need Statement by eliminating language that would have restricted consideration of any future plans to maximum speeds of 110mph.

In the spring of 2013, MDOT requested comments on their initial route choices. They had begun with roughly 80 segments that are being screened in phases. MHSRA members sent 636 emails, and attended and made comments at all of the public input meetings. As a result, MHSRA had an opportunity to offer a route alternative which MDOT added for consideration. The new alter-native was retained in the first two rounds of screening.

Our work is clearly having a beneficial effect. Our strong responses were not ignored; MHSRA representatives have now met with the Federal Railroad Administration and MDOT officials. Our voices are being heard.

Chicago-Milwaukee

The Illinois and Wisconsin departments of transportation are conducting a Tier I EIS of the Chicago–Milwaukee Corridor. With several railroads closely paralleling each other, there is an excellent opportunity for the states to separate freight and passenger trains by upgrading one line for high-density freight trains and another for high-speed passenger trains.

This is the most popular line in the Midwest, with seven round trips daily. At only 90 miles in

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MHSRA is having a direct impact on the design of the South-of-the-Lake Reroute

length, the Chicago-Milwaukee line could be an excellent candidate to demonstrate what seri-ous infrastructure improvements can do to boost ridership.

We have begun engaging with stakeholders in this corridor to provide input into the process in 2014.

Connections to Airports

The world’s most successful passenger rail systems provide travelers with seamless in-termodal connections between rail, bus, and air travel. The MHSRA advocates direct con-nections to airports throughout the Midwest.

The key to success for a Midwest high-speed rail network will be a train station at O’Hare Airport. According to Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn’s new bullet train feasibility study, O’Hare would account for 25% of all systemwide boardings between Chicago, Indianapolis, and St. Louis.

The Chicago Department of Aviation has cre-ated a new opportunity to expand and en-hance the existing O’Hare Transfer Metra sta-tion as part of a project to extend the airport’s transit line to a new consolidated rent-a-car facility at the site.

We have begun revamping our OHareDirect.org website to draw attention to this critical part of the network.

220-mph Demonstration Project

We are pushing for a 220-mph passenger rail demonstration project in the Midwest to drive new thinking in transportation policy. With our encouragement, in 2011 Gov. Quinn launched a feasibility study of a state-of-the-art bullet train corri-dor linking O’Hare Airport with Chicago, Champaign, Indianapolis and St. Louis. We are thrilled to report the study was released this year and provides critical in-formation the state will need to develop high-speed rail.

■ Our CrossRail Chicago proposal is

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A new rental car facility creates a new opportunity for a new railroad station at O’Hare.

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The Illinois DOT took another big step towards high-speed rail by releasing an initial feasibility study of a 220-mph high-speed line

designed to provide the access for this route into Chicago Union Station and O’Hare. Additionally, we are preparing for a statewide advocacy campaign to persuade the Quinn administration to invest in an Environmental Impact Study for the project.

■ MHSRA has been working with the National Association of Railroad Passengers to convince the Federal Railroad Administration to approve a loan application for the XpressWest project linking Las Vegas and Victorville, California. It is the only high-speed rail project in North America with the permits and right-of-way required to begin construction and the most likely project to begin operating in this decade. MHSRA supports this project because it could be the breakthrough we need to get high-speed rail underway nationwide.

■ MHSRA has provided grassroots support for the California High Speed Rail project because the outcome in California will directly impact the political feasibility of a high-speed rail project in the Midwest. We are exploring a further partnership with NARP to support the California project.

Strengthening the Association

MHSRA contracted with a new communica-tions firm in December 2012. The firm has made a tremendous improvement in the quality of our written communications including eblasts, brochures and website content. Three op-eds were published, one in the Chicago Sun-Times, one in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and one in the Indianapolis Star as a result of their efforts. They were also responsible for getting our CrossRail Chicago concept featured in Crain’s Chicago Business. We will be working on creating a big-ger presence for high-speed rail and MHSRA in regional media outlets in the year ahead.

■ In October, we launched a new website to feature our major initiatives, improve our outreach, and provide a more intuitive vis-itor experience and easier access to a wider variety of content.

■ We held a full roster of events throughout the year, including a successful annual meeting featuring Amtrak President Joe Boardman. Staff and volunteers coordinated member atten-dance at dozens of rallies, public input sessions, and town hall meetings. We also conducted a 10-day tour of China’s new, remarkable high-speed rail system.

The Year Ahead

With so many promising opportunities and challenges facing the passenger rail industry, both regionally and at the federal level, the MHSRA is ready to push forward, helping to inform and educate the public. We look forward to 2014 and providing a public forum for a far-reaching and realistic conversation that looks to strengthen the economic future of our region through a mod-ern, safe and well-supported passenger rail system.

MHRSA members visited several facilities in China to better understand the impacts of high-speed rail.

Board of Directors

President

Joseph P. Schwieterman, Ph.D. Director Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development DePaul University

Vice President

Dennis Minichello, Esq. Shareholder Marwedel, Minichello & Reeb

Secretary

Keith Kalinowski Attaché Commercial Quebec Delegation Chicago

Treasurer

Ira Silver Accountant

Elizabeth Coulson Retired Illinois General Assembly

Nicolai Schousboe Retired Mitsui OSK Lines

David Winters Retired Illinois General Assembly

General Counsel

Stan Miller, Esq. Partner Ungaretti & Harris

Staff

Executive Director

Richard Harnish

Office Manager

Shira Orlowek

Manager of Communications and Research

Julius Parod

Contractors

Media Outreach

Joanna Klonsky, JKV Strategies

Public Affairs

Dan Johnson, Progressive Public Affairs

Graphic Design, Website & Newsletter

Dave Goldin, Goldin Media

London Crockett