As a born and raised Minneapolitan, I am very excited about the possibility of a high speed train running between the Twin Cities and Chicago.
“Plans are moving fast to spend more than $1 billion on high-speed rail between the Twin Cities and Chicago,” writes Mike Kaszuba of the Star Tribune. But he warns that we shouldn’t get too excited about the “high speed” aspect; the trains will top out at 110 mph and average 78 mph, nowhere near the 200 mph speeds achieved in Europe and Japan.
Still a lot faster than driving, is what I say. Faster would be better, but $1 billion is already a lot of money in a recession. Let’s just get the thing built.
You know what it would cost to get a 220 mph train? About $33 billion, based on estimates regarding a San Francisco to Los Angeles train (about the same distance). Fat chance we’re gonna get that! Stop fighting, guys. Build it.