A overview of a high speed rail route to Louisville - and beyond.
Louisville would connect with the Midwest High Speed Rail Network at downtown Indianapolis. The network already proposes a line between Cincinnati and Chicago via Indianapolis, thus a Louisville spur could take advantage of the trackage on that line between Indianapolis and Chicago. Only the 110 mile distance between Indianapolis and Louisville needs to be upgraded.
Fortunately, there is already a rail line linking the two cities. It follows an almost direct route parallel to I-65. It passes through Franklin, Columbus, Seymour, and Scottsburg on its way south to Louisville. This line is partially owned by Conrail and partially owned by the Louisville and Indiana short line. The route currently has very light freight traffic and thus is an excellent candidate for passenger rail. Indeed, it used to be an Amtrak route linking Chicago with Florida.
The line is only in marginal condition and is unsignalled. Thus extensive work will need to be done to bring it up to high speed rail standards. However, this line is in better shape than the former Big Four route that will be used between Indianapolis and Cincinnati. Part of that route has already been abandoned. The cost and feasibility of upgrading the L&I should be similar.
One area for study is the Ohio River bridge crossing. The ideal route is probably via the Big Four (aka "LRS-102") bridge. However, that bridge is out of service and its approaches have been demolished. If this bridge were used, additional capital funds would be needed to restore it to service.
Route: 110 miles from Downtown Louisville to Downtown Indianapolis via the L&I railroad. (Service continues to Chicago)
Stops: Louisville, Columbus, Indianapolis. (Potentially additional stops at Scottsburg and Seymour. These might be "local" stops that are only available on a limited number of runs).
Round Trips Per Day: 4 (This is one less than from Cincinnati. Trains could be through-routed to Chicago, or a cooridinated transfer in Indianapolis could be required. More analysis should be done of train frequency).
One Way Fare: $100 to Chicago. (Same as Cincinnati full fare. Other fares and discounts could apply. For example, commuter rail style pricing from Columbus to Indianapolis. A fully analysis needs to be performed to determine the optimal fare structure).
Infrastructure Cost: $107 million (This is identical to the Cincinnati estimate as routes are of almost equal length and condition. Includes track, signal and station costs).
Rolling Stock Cost: $40.5 million (Nine three-car train sets, at $4.5 million per train set. This is a very conservative estimate based on each run having its own train set plus one spare).
Note that my total estimated cost of this route ($147.5 million) is far less than the cost to widen just nine miles of I-65 in Clark County ($265 million).
Beyond the route to Louisville, there are two potential route extensions that should be studied. One is a route to Lexington via Frankfort. This could function as an extension of the Louisville service. The distance between the cities is approximately 75 miles. The Lexington metro area has an estimated population of 440,000. Franklin County adds another 46,000 people. It is likely that substantial inter-city travel demand is present along this extension itself since Louisville and Lexington are the two largest cities in Kentucky and Frankfort is the state capital. A formal study would need to confirm this however. I am not familiar with the state of the rail network between Louisville and Lexington. This would also require investigation.
The other potential route extension if from Louisville south to Nashville, Tennessee. Nashville is a rapidly growing metro area with 1.1 million people. Also along this route are the smaller cities of Elizabethtown and Bowling Green, Kentucky. The distance between Nashville and Louisville is approximately 175 miles. I am not aware of the state of the rail network between Louisville and Nashville. All aspects of this route would require investigation.
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