All aboard: Obama wants a national high-speed train network

President Obama is pushing for a new national network of high-speed trains as an answer to growing traffic congestion nationwide.

That sounds like good news for train fans out there — if it ever happens. I’ve been looking into trains from New York to Chicago recently and am surprised that the Lake Shore Limited still takes more than 18 hours to reach Union Station in C-Town.

Anyway, Obama’s plan singles out 10 “high-speed corridors,” according to CNN, including California, the Pacific Northwest, the Midwest, the Southeast, the Gulf Coast, Pennsylvania, Florida, New York and New England.

Obama is also calling for improvements to one of the nation’s most-traveled rail corridors, the Boston-Washington line.

How will he pay for all this? Through both the recently passed $787 billion stimulus and a separate $5 billion investment over five years.

Obama envisions some trains traveling at top speeds of 150 mph.