Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – Imagine passenger trains departing Chicago every hour for St. Louis, Indianapolis, Champaign, and other places. That’s the goal of a bill announced during a statehouse news conference Tuesday by the High Speed Rail Alliance and State Rep. Rita Mayfield (D-Waukegan).

“Less cars on the roads are more safe roads, and for individuals that have anxiety driving one to two to four hours away, such as coming to Springfield, having these more frequent train services, allowing individuals to go from Point A to go visit Grandma, you can take the entire family. It can become more of an experience.”

“We need now, if we are ever going to get to truly competitive service, we need to start doing that design work right now,” said Rick Harnish, executive director of the alliance. “That means planning for hourly service on these critical routes and IDOT (Illinois Department of Transportation) is doing planning work we are just saying set it up to a higher standard.”