Our Story & Impact

In January 1993, one hundred people huddled in the banquet hall of the Holiday Inn in Evanston, Illinois. The heaters didn’t work. A smaller portion of this group, all with a zeal for making high-speed rail a reality in the United States, had been meeting every month for a few years. This public meeting led to the incorporation of the Illinois High Speed Rail Association—the first iteration of the High Speed Rail Alliance.

Our work was led by 100% volunteers in those early years, and we soon renamed to the Midwest High Speed Rail Association. We received our founding grant in 2001, two weeks after the inauguration of President George W. Bush, allowing us to hire our first full-time employee: current executive director Rick Harnish. Washington insiders cautioned that we would make no progress in expanding passenger rail during the Bush administration. But we continued to push—and we proved them wrong.

With the support of a powerful rail union and partnering environmental associations, our advocacy changed the course of passenger rail policy in Illinois and at the federal level.

In 2006, our members led to the doubling of service of Illinois-funded Amtrak trains. This win gave advocates across the country a new sense of optimism and influenced future members of the Obama administration, setting the stage for the high-speed rail funds included in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

In 2009, we scored an even bigger win. Thanks to our advocacy and relationships built over nearly a decade, the Illinois General Assembly passed a bill allocating $500 million to upgrade train service between Chicago and St. Louis. This investment, which supplemented a $1.2 billion federal grant, increased top speeds on the line to 110 mph, improved reliability, and upgraded stations along the route.

Gov. Bruce Rauner tried to kill this project in 2015. Our bottom-up coalition successfully blocked this attempt.

In 2020, we dropped the “Midwest” in our name to become the High Speed Rail Alliance, reflecting our shift from a regional to a national organization.

California’s 2021 budget release of $4.2 billion for high-speed rail followed sustained advocacy by the Alliance and its members, who urged lawmakers to commit dedicated funding. Our work helped encourage stakeholders to press on with Central Valley construction, strengthen the statewide rail and transit program, and build momentum toward an integrated network.

That same year, we notched another victory back in Illinois when the state Department of Transportation created the Illinois High Speed Railway Commission. Our executive director, Rick Harnish, is a commissioner. By holding this seat, the High Speed Rail Alliance ensures that Illinois is leading the Midwest in high-speed rail development.

In 2025, the Alliance worked with local advocacy groups to rally behind transit funding and governance reform in the face of dire threats to transit systems in Illinois. As a result, the Illinois General Assembly passed a bill shifting $1.5 billion annually from roads to trains and transit statewide. The new bill directed the state’s Department of Transportation to use mode shift to reduce road construction costs and meet climate-change goals, establishing a transportation model that values people and communities—and will have real national impact.

We have long advocated for these reforms, and the Illinois bill is a major win. But much work remains to be done.

As we continue to grow, we’re expanding our expertise and connections in transportation policy, engineering, advocacy, and education—while staying true to our roots as a grassroots alliance of people passionate about bringing fast, frequent, and affordable trains to the U.S.