YES! I support a rapid transition to 100% fossil-free, rail-centered transportation in Indiana. I want Gov. Holcomb and the Indiana State Legislature to act with urgency and adopt policies and laws that foster a new mobility infrastructure for our state — one that protects the health of residents and the planet, ensures an equitable transition away from fossil fuels and generates green, good jobs in manufacturing and services.

I ask them to answer young people’s preference to live and work in places that are car independent, have excellent public transportation and access to clean mass transportation, like high-speed rail. I ask our elected officials to provide a model of sustainable transportation for the upcoming federal infrastructure legislation. I want Indiana to lead in solving the climate emergency by becoming the Crossrails of America by 2030.

Here’s how lawmakers can do it:
• Restore daily passenger rail service between Indianapolis and Chicago
— at one time, more than 200 trains a day ran between these cities.
• Provide passenger train service from Fort Wayne to Chicago and between Fort Wayne and the Ohio cities of Columbus and Toledo.
• Fully fund the bus rapid transit lines in Indianapolis and expand BRT elsewhere
— BRT is the next-best thing to the all-electric interurbans that once dominated the region and should never have been abandoned.
• Plan for a high-speed train for the Indianapolis-Chicago corridor.
• Restore Union Station in Indianapolis to its architectural grandeur and role as a major transportation/commercial downtown hub.
• Revitalize rolling stock manufacturing in Indiana, from locomotive manufacturing in Jeffersonville to freight cars in Michigan City.

Now is the time to act. Indiana is on a roll with public transit improvements, including BRT in Indianapolis; the West Lake Corridor Project, which will extend train service to Munster; and upgrades to the South Shore Line in Northwest Indiana. Please keep the momentum going.