Precisely ... Toledo to Detroit to Toronto, Cleveland to Pittsburgh. Northern Indiana is down in the Ohio Hub plans for the junction between the Columbus/Chicago route and the Cleveland/Chicago route.

Thing is, the 220mph Express HSR to serve trips of 200 miles to 500 miles cost five times as much per mile as the 110mph Emerging HSR to serve trips of 100 miles to 300 miles, and since they need their own Right of Way, take a lot longer to build too.

If the purpose is to provide travel options that are able to ride out a $5/gallon oil price shock, the 110mph corridors offer more bang for the buck, quicker.

Local rail cannot run at 110mph, and you need to run at 110mph before you start to see more people take it by choice even when they have the option of driving or flying.

Its like the comparison between an Interstate Highway and a city street ... they each serve different needs, and neither can replace the other.

High Speed Rail is for trips in the range of 100 miles to 300 miles. It provides extra choice to people make short-hop flights and the actual inter-state drives on the Interstate Highways. That's why stations are space every thirty to fifty miles.

Also, a well chosen HSR corridor will cover its operating expenses, including ongoing maintenance, out of fare revenues with a surplus ... a conventional rail service normally needs a subsidy. So that is part of the reason for focusing first on the Midwest and Ohio Hub routes first .. Chicago/Cleveland via Northern Indiana, Chicago/Cincinnati/Columbus via Indianapolis ... once they are up and running, a North/South route that connects to both will have a stronger foundation and likely require less subsidy.

But just like driving and air travel, conventional rail tends to require operating subsidies. Its high speed rail, with the increase in population density per hour of train travel, and the lower running cost per passenger-mile, that is more likely to stand on its own feet.

High Speed Rail is for trips in the range of 100 miles to 300 miles. It provides extra choice to people make short-hop flights and the actual inter-state drives on the Interstate Highways. That's why stations are space every thirty to fifty miles ... its not a local commuter rail.

A very important part of a successful 110mph HSR corridor is reliable on-time service. The Fort Wayne alignment for the Midwest Hub, and junction with the Ohio Hub, is in part because the Amtrak alignment through South Bend has so much freight traffic, while the Fort Wayne alignment has plenty of room for passenger-only track.

At 110mph, most passengers will be taking trips of under 3 hours, which basically means inside 300miles ... Pittsburgh is about 300 miles, Buffalo about 350. The Ohio Hub includes Cleveland/Buffalo, Cleveland/Pittsburgh, and Toledo/Columbus segments in the plan, so a Northern Indiana to Cleveland line will connect with all the 1m+ cities to the east within 300 miles.