Siemens will build 137 new, single-level passenger cars for California and some of the Midwest’s state-supported routes, replacing a bi-level design that failed federally-mandated crash tests, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) announced on November 8.

On Nov. 2, 2017, the Illinois Department of Transportation – along with the Chicago Department of Transportation, the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, the Cook County Department of Transportation and Highways, and the region’s freight railroads – applied on behalf of CREATE for a $160 million Infrastructure For Rebuilding America (INFRA) discretionary grant to help unplug one of the nation’s most frustrating rail bottlenecks: the 75th Street Corridor on Chicago’s south side.

The Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Commission’s annual meeting came to Wichita, Kansas, for 2017; perhaps an odd choice if you consider only that the city – 50th largest in the country, 10th largest in the Midwest, whose population exceeds Cleveland, Ohio – doesn’t currently have passenger rail service. But MIPRC’s presence there on Oct. 9-11, and its emphasis on the importance of the regional passenger rail network and regional connectivity, may help change that.

UPDATE (Sept. 15, 2017): The second paragraph of this post has been updated to reflect more accurate information about the Chargers' rollout.

Your eyes are not deceiving you, those are the long-anticipated Siemens Charger locomotives zipping along Amtrak’s Midwest state-supported routes.

MIPRC commissioners met with 49 Midwestern Members of Congress and/or their staff during individual office visits in Washington, D.C. on May 23 to stress the importance of maintaining a strong federal/state partnership for passenger rail development. Commissioners also illuminated the growing demand for regional passenger rail in the Midwest, along with recent developments in track and equipment upgrades.

(UPDATE, April 24, 2017): The Missouri Department of Transportation will give the Charger a test run along the state-supported Missouri River Runner route between St. Louis and Kansas City on April 25-26. The new locomotives are expected to go into revenue service on the route later this year.

When the Trump Administration released its budget outline last month, it proposed eliminating funding for all of Amtrak’s long-distance trains for Fiscal Year 2018, and cutting $499 million for the popular TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) grant program immediately as part of the budget deal being negotiated now for the remainder of the current fiscal year.

The Federal Railroad Administration has formally launched an 18-month Midwest Regional Rail Planning Study of how to develop a 40-year framework for high-performance, intercity passenger rail service in our region.

A new survey of college and university students in Winona, Minnesota, finds that four in 10 respondents say they have taken Amtrak, more than half say they would ride more frequently if more frequent service was available, and almost two-thirds say they consider passenger rail service important to the nation’s transportation future.

One of the nation’s most frustrating rail bottlenecks lies on Chicago’s south side: the 75th Street Corridor, encompassing six of the nation’s seven Class I freight railroads, two of Chicago’s Metra commuter rail lines, and Amtrak’s intercity service.