CHICAGO | At a recent Cook County Board meeting, Commissioner Joan Murphy said the construction of a high-speed rail network in the Midwest would create nearly 300,000 high quality construction, engineering and manufacturing jobs.
What Murphy didn't disclose was that those numbers came from an organization that favors high-speed rail.
According to Murphy's spokesperson Mary Doherty, the commissioner formulated that number from two studies done by Midwest High Speed Rail.
Midwest High Speed Rail head Rick Harnish said the group is determined to bring high-speed rail to the Midwest. He said the project would create 100,000 jobs in the Chicago area and cost $83 billion, although the jobs would not be fully realized for about 30 years, the time it would take to complete the project.
Harnish said the figures didn't include any construction jobs that might be created.
Murphy serves on Gov. Pat Quinn's High Speed Rail Advisory Council. This council was organized in June to study the viability of a 220 mph rail system in Illinois, Wisconsin and Missouri. According to Doherty, Murphy's role on this council is that of oversight, however the membership -- which includes Harnish -- reveals other potential conflicts of interest.
Another member of the council is MarySue Barrett, president of the Metropolitan Planning Council. According to Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman Guy Tridgell, IDOT commissioned the Metropolitan Planning Council for a study on job creation for a similar 110 mph high-speed rail system in Illinois.
Metropolitan Planning Council spokeswoman Mandy Burrell said the agency is also a proponent of bringing high-speed rail to the Midwest.
Both Tridgell and Doherty said that Murphy and Quinn welcome all perspectives in determining the feasibility of high-speed rail.
"Commissioner Murphy will use studies promulgated from the University of Illinois (and) from HSR projects from around the globe to ascertain best practices and applications for the Midwest," Doherty said in an email statement.
At least one group skeptical of high-speed rail says their voice has not been heard by the state.
Diana Rickert, of the Illinois Policy Institute, a skeptic of high-speed rail, said in an email, "We have not been on any high-speed rail commissions. However, there have been numerous opportunities for legislators and other policymakers to get our take on why high-speed rail is wrong for Illinois."
Randall O'Toole, who headed a high-speed rail feasibility study for the Illinois Policy Institute, wasn't surprised by the lack of variety in arguments. He called the push for high-speed rail, "faith-based transportation planning," and said proponents believe in its feasibility in a cult-like manner, dismissing all other opinions, facts and studies that counter what he calls, "a Utopian view of the technology."
