Could Detroit be the man-on-the-moon for the nation's high speed rail?

There's going to be a lot of talk about high-speed rail now that Biden and Obama are talking stimulus for really fast trains. So, The Atlantic asks, why not start this project here in Michigan?

Except:

Instead of scattering nickels and dimes across dozens of states, a better idea would be to increase the train fund at least tenfold so America can have at least one legitimate high-speed rail line like Spain's Madrid-to-Seville train, which runs at 186 mph (Amtrak averages only 79 nationwide). And let this man-on-the-moon project start in Detroit.

Yes, Detroit. The city that was once part of FDR’s "Arsenal of Democracy," for its part in retooling auto plants to make World War II tanks and bombers, has easily a dozen empty auto plants that could be making train engines and train cars.

In Flint, Michigan, United Auto Workers Local 651 President Art Reyes says Plant Six at the Delphi Flint East site, which once made air filters and has been idle since September 2008, offers 500,000 square feet, 45-foot ceilings, 26-inch-thick concrete floors, fiber-optic wiring, and, conveniently, a rail line.

"I have a workforce of 900 that's been downsized from 9,000," says Reyes, "but every one of them is computer-literate and ready for cutting-edge, green-technology stuff, whether it's wind turbines, next-generation auto batteries, or rail. We're hungry for work."

Read the entire article here.

Read a piece here by Michigan Public Radio about the future of Michigan train travel that asks "Is the future of train travel in Michigan?"