THEY ARE BEGINNING TO CATCH ON. Trains for America picks up the torch.

We can afford conventional improvements on existing tracks. It is a beginning on a longer term plan. This time last year, nobody would have considered it possible to even have this discussion.

Amen.

The post references a Minneapolis Star-Tribune article that recognizes a fundamental truth.

But even a train that reached only 110 mph would significantly shorten a trip from Chicago to the Twin Cities, cutting the time from roughly eight hours to about 5 1/2.

That's a proposed Milwaukee Road schedule from 1939 (never implemented because neither the North Western nor the Burlington could match it) that involved a reduction of the Chicago - Milwaukee time from 75 to 60 minutes, and another 15 minutes shaved between Milwaukee and La Crosse.

The comments to the post include a link to a Wilson Quarterly article on the Zephyrs. I might have referred readers to it before. It's worth a look.