What is high speed rail?
High speed rail refers to a series of technologies involving trains traveling at top speeds of 90 to 300 mph. Trains are time-competitive with air and/or auto travel for destinations 100 to 500 miles away. The Midwest Regional Rail Initiative proposes a high speed rail corridor between St. Paul and Chicago . The proposed corridor shares the Red Rock Corridor alignment from Hastings to St. Paul .
High-Speed Rail, sometimes called High-Speed Ground Transportation, is self-guided intercity passenger ground transportation that is time-competitive with air and/or autos on a door-to-door basis for trips in the approximate range of 100 to 500 miles. This is a market-based, not a speed-based definition: it recognizes that the opportunities and requirements for High-Speed Rail differ markedly among different pairs of cities.
