Midwest Regional Rail Initiative

The Chicago Hub Network is a collection of proposed fast conventional and high-speed rail lines in the Midwestern United States including 3,000 miles (5,000 km) of track. Since the 1990s, there have been multiple proposals to improve the links from Chicago, Illinois to major destinations including Indianapolis, Indiana, Detroit, Michigan, Cleveland, Ohio, Kansas City, Missouri, St. Louis, Missouri, Cincinnati, Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, and Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota. In addition, lines would connect through to major cities in Canada. Eastern routes would blend into the Ohio Hub network. In addition to providing better connections between Midwestern cities, the projects are intended to reduce or eliminate the operating subsidies that American passenger train routes currently require.

If implemented, the plans would return some of the nation's fastest trains to Chicago as it had in the 1930s and 1940s when the Twin Cities 400 and Hiawatha were based in the city. Chicago continues to be the nation's largest rail hub, and remains unsurpassed in the nation in the total number of passenger and freight trains that converge on the city. Presently, Chicago is a major hub for Amtrak, with 15 different lines terminating at Union Station. Most existing passenger trains in the region operate at speeds of about 55 to 80 miles per hour (89 to 129 km/h), although a few travel faster. The various plans have suggested speeds ranging from 110 to 220 miles per hour (180 to 350 km/h) for the core routes, as well as improved speeds for secondary routes.

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