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LaHood Likes Idea of "Rail Czar"
If the Midwest is to get high-speed rail anytime soon, it needs a high-speed rail czar, according to a former area politician-turned-bureaucrat.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a former Illinois congressman who represented a district that covered part of Knox County, says Midwestern states need one person to shepherd this project through -- somebody the U.S. Department of Transportation can call with questions. Without a Midwest high-speed rail czar, LaHood says the overall network will lack focus, and will take longer tome come to fruition.

As envisioned, high-speed lines would radiate from Chicago to St. Louis, Cincinnati , Detroit, Cleveland, St. Paul, Minn., and maybe Kansas City . High-speed, in this case, means trains traveling at top speeds of 110 mph, versus the current top speed of 79 mph. Other improvements would allow trains to run at top speed for more of the journey.

LaHood says the governors with whom he has spoken like the idea of a high-speed rail czar. He says he doesn't have a particular person in mind for the job.

LaHood says even with a high-speed rail czar and billions in federal money, the network is still probably 10 years away.

(Illinois Radio Network)
05 30 09 by Newsroom
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