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High-speed rail now zips passengers at up to 150 mph between Boston and Washington, D.C., and at 200 mph in Europe and Japan. After a conference among officials from four Western states, Utah Transit Authority CEO John Inglish said Friday he's confident that it's coming to Utah — someday.
"It may be 10 years or it may be 30," he said. "It may not be in my lifetime, but it will happen in my grandchildren's lifetime."
His comments came after a convention in Las Vegas of the Western High Speed Rail Alliance, a group formed last year by transit groups in Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, Reno, Denver and Phoenix.
"When we looked at the federal map of [planned] high-speed rail networks, there was a huge gap in the Intermountain region," Inglish said. "We put together the Western High Speed Rail Alliance to address that oversight."
The group is building the case with federal officials that high-speed rail makes economic sense with routes from Los Angeles through Las Vegas to Salt Lake City, or from Denver to Reno through Utah's capital city. He said the convention heard from top engineers and project designers about how to show that, and what they think.
"At this point," Inglish said, "it's looking pretty legitimate. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood spoke to us and encouraged us along in our efforts."
He added that the keynote speaker, outgoing Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, told his fellow Westerners that they "have to make a serious economic argument in favor of it" to win federal funding, and that each part of such lines must be "legitimized through studies showing economic benefit."
Inglish said findings and work by the group so far make him feel that "it's not a question of a chance" that high-speed rail will reach Utah, "it's a question of when."