High speed rail: 110 MPH STL to CHI, $31 million for Amtrak in Missouri

A newly improved high-speed rail route will take travelers from St. Louis to Chicago at 110 miles per hour.  The plan is for three trips a day in each direction.

The national high-speed rail plan being announced by President Obama and others around the nation today, includes $31 million to upgrade and help speed up the Amtrak corridor between Kansas City and St. Louis.

A press conference to make the announcement will be held at 12:30 today in St. Louis with Governor Nixon, Congressman Russ Carnahan, and a top official from the administration.

Those you who have taken your bicycle on Amtrak in Missouri know that our most pressing need there is for proper storage facilities for bicycles on the Amtrak cars.

Right now, bicycles are stored in various available areas, and Amtrak leadership and staff have been kind enough to accommodate that (at the request of Missouri legislators--who were themselves prompted to make this request by a delegation from MoBikeFed back in the 1990s).

However, to really handle the bicycles safely and properly there needs to be dedicated storage equipment or racks that can secure the bicycles safely in case of emergency stops.  The current train cars could be retrofitted, or bicycle storage could be part of the requirements for any new equipment Amtrak purchases for Missouri.

Join us for Bicycle Day at the Capitol February 16th--that will be a good occasion to talk with legislators about this issue.