They are all on existing rail corridors, sometimes corridors in use, sometimes corridors not in use (or not in much use) but not yet formally abandoned.

Remember that these are 110mph Rapid Rail routes, not bullet train routes ... the capital cost is much lower, so the travel market required to justify them is not the same size.

But with respect to the question, that is in general the route of the current City of New Orleans, Chicago/Memphis/NOLA, so the Carbondale leg of the Midwest Hub would also provide a substantial improvement in reliability of performance for that part of the current skeleton of a national route matrix.


I've been accused of being a Marxist, yet while Harpo's my favourite, it's Groucho I'm always quoting. Odd, that.