Yesterday, MIPRC and the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative (MWRRI) steering committee sent a joint letter to US DOT Secretary Ray LaHood, asking him to remove the three-year cap on allowing states to use the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement Program (CMAQ) for intercity passenger rail funds operations.

Several of our states have used – or plan to use – CMAQ funding to help offset the cost of operating passenger rail service.  Using CMAQ funds for intercity passenger rail operating expenses is a decision for each individual state, but having that flexibility is key.

On October 15, MIPRC and the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative (MWRRI) steering committee submitted joint comments into the Federal Railroad Administration’s draft guidance for the state development of rail plans.

Yesterday, the US DOT announced it has obligated funding for track improvements to eight key areas on 29 miles of track owned by Norfolk Southern between Porter, Indiana and the Illinois/Indiana border. Known as the “Indiana Gateway Project,” this is the final major project to be obligated of more than $2.5 billion in funding awarded to Midwestern states under the High Speed Intercity Passenger Rail (HSIPR) program. The HSIPR had four rounds of funding awards between January 2010 and May 2011.

This week, MIPRC sent a letter to the conferees to the federal surface transportation reauthorization, stressing the need for dedicated, multi-year multimodal funding, and making the case that passenger rail be included.

Secretary LaHood has announced a $551 million RFP for the U.S. manufacturing of approximately 130 new bi-level passenger rail cars, including 88 passenger cars that will run on 8 corridors in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, and potentially Iowa. Illinois is the lead Midwestern state on the joint passenger rail equipment purchase that was awarded $268 million through the High Speed Intercity Passenger Rail program last May (2011). In addition, two other HSIPR awards that Illinois received (for the Chicago-St. Louis and Chicago-Omaha corridors) have additional funding for equipment included.

MIPRC officers sent a letter to members of the US House and Senate appropriations subcommittees on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD), asking that key funding for passenger rail development be included in the federal FY 2013 appropriations. The commission requested $1.050 billion for the HSIPR program (the amount authorized in PRIIA); $500 million for the TIGER program and $2.167 billion in operating and capital support for Amtrak.

This week, the Michigan DOT and Amtrak received federal approval to begin 110 mph service between Porter, Indiana and Kalamazoo, Michigan on the Chicago-Detroit (Wolverine service) and Chicago-Port Huron (Blue Water service) routes – the first outside of the Northeast Corridor!

Passenger rail ridership on state-supported and other shorter distance corridors (less than 750 miles) in the Midwest continues to thrive. Ridership on these nine routes grew by 5.4 percent in FY 2011, and exceeded the 2.9 million mark. Over the past five years, corridor ridership in the Midwest has grown by 54 percent. Nationwide, Amtrak experienced an all-time ridership record of 30.2 million passengers for the fiscal year, which ended September 30.

Michigan’s Blue Water service between Chicago and Port Huron experienced the region's largest ridership increase, up 18.6 percent, while ridership increases on Illinois’ Illini/Saluki service between Chicago and Carbondale followed close behind, at 18.2 percent.

Passenger rail development is MOVING in our region, as well as the nation! As of yesterday, the Federal Railroad Administration has obligated funding for 72 of the 77 projects award through the stimulus (ARRA), the initial funding made available under the High Speed Intercity Passenger Rail (HSIPR) program – almost $7.8 billion of the $8 billion has been signed off, with agreements in place, almost a year in advance of the deadline! Also, Amtrak has had a record ridership year – more than 30 million riders! We’ll give you the specifics for the region as soon as they’re available.

Today, U.S. Secretary Ray LaHood announced that Illinois and California (as the lead states) have reached cooperative agreements with the Federal Railroad Administration to begin a multi-state procurement of passenger rail equipment for corridors in California, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Oregon and Washington State.

For the Midwest, this HSIPR program funding obligation is $ 268,201,084, and encompasses the purchase of 48 passenger rail cars and 7 locomotives for 8 corridors in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, and Missouri. The award was announced in May, and the states and FRA have been working diligently to secure the agreements necessary to obligate the funding.

On June 15, MIPRC commissioners met with more than 40 Midwestern members of Congress and their staff to stress the importance of continuing to build a strong federal/state partnership for passenger rail development. Commissioners presented a letter detailing the commission’s recommendations.

Midwestern states have received awards of more than $2.5 billion to date from the federal High Speed Intercity Passenger Rail (HSIPR) program. The attached updated chart reflects awards announced May 9, as well as redistributed funding from previous award announcements.

The Midwest received $672.3 million, more than a third of the funding available to the states through today’s High Speed Intercity Passenger Rail (HSIPR) program announcement. For the first time, Midwestern states were awarded federal dollars to modernize passenger rail equipment, and also received important additional funding for passenger rail corridor development in the region. MIPRC welcomes this strong affirmation of the region’s plans for fast, frequent passenger service.

Florida’s governor has made a final decision to turn down the $2.4 billion in funding that his state had been awarded through the two rounds of federal High Speed Intercity Passenger Rail (HSIPR) program funding. MIPRC hopes that Midwestern states will be given first dibs on that funding, and believes the region has a strong rationale for its request.

Laura Kliewer, MIPRC's director, attended and submitted testimony to the US House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee hearing on Feb. 20 in DuPage County, Illinois. The hearing was part of the committee's listening tour on surface transportation reauthorization. Kliewer asked that Congress include passenger rail development as a key component to any reauthorization of the federal surface transportation program.

President Obama reiterated his commitment to high-speed rail in his 2011 State of the Union address. The President said that "within 25 years, our goal is to give 80 percent of Americans access to high-speed rail" and emphasized that "(a)s we speak, routes in California and the Midwest are already underway."

We have posted an updated list of MIPRC's advocacy positions; these points have been communicated to Members of Congress and other federal officials in recent months.

Yesterday, the Federal Railroad Administration announced awards to Midwestern states totaling almost half a billion dollars. A number of projects across the region are being funded, including plans to make significant improvements to the Detroit-Chicago corridor and to establish new service between Chicago and Iowa City.

Travelers across the Midwest are taking the train in record numbers, according to FY 2010 ridership and revenue numbers released by Amtrak this month. Almost 2.8 million people took the train on short-distance corridor service within the region last year – an 8 percent increase over FY 2009.

On Tuesday, MIPRC Chair Rep. Elaine Nekritz (Illinois) testified on behalf of the commission before the rail subcommittee of the U.S. House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee. The subcommittee was holding a field hearing in Chicago on High-Speed Rail Grants Awarded under the Recovery Act.