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Fort Wayne Residents Rally For High-Speed Passenger Rail

By John W. Davis
June 18, 2010 Updated Jan 16, 2010 at 6:18 PM EST FORT WAYNE, Ind. (Indiana's NewsCenter) – Hundreds of Hoosiers rallied Saturday afternoon in downtown Fort Wayne in support of bringing high-speed passenger rail service to the Summit City. Organizers from the Northeast Indiana Passenger Rail Association held the rally at the historic Baker Street Train Station. The station’s former lobby was packed to a standing room only capacity of 800 people, including dozens of local, state and national politicians. Meanwhile, the proposed line supported by NIPRA would travel east to west from Cleveland to Toledo, to Fort Wayne and on to Chicago. The Indiana Department of Transportation has already applied for a 2.8 billion dollar grant to get the project rolling. ”You better be putting a certain amount into the investment for high speed rail,” said U.S. Congressman Mark Souder. “Our number one battle was to get Indiana with a plan so we would become eligible, the number two battle is where is it going to be,” said Souder. Experts say the initiative would create about 4,500 jobs across Indiana. 500 jobs would be slated for Fort Wayne. Organizers say if they receive the proper funding, construction would begin in 2014. Meanwhile, passengers would be able to travel across the Midwest by high-speed rail in 2017.
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