INDIANAPOLIS — The days when rail terminals across Indiana bustled with travelers racing to catch passenger trains are long over.

        But state and federal transportation officials believe they can rekindle some of rail travel's popularity with faster trains and expanded service to some of Indiana's bigger cities.

        State transportation officials are spending the summer gauging public opinion on a proposed $4.1 billion high-speed rail plan, which the state would help finance.

        Officials with Amtrak, the na tional passenger railroad, say riding the rails would become more popular if the government agrees to pump billions more dollars into the nation's rail system. Their plan includes bringing high-speed rail to the Midwest.

        Yet that's far from a done deal as critics line up against rail supporters in Washington.

        Rail critic Wendell Cox of St. Louis says there is no proof that Americans will be willing to ditch their cars for commuter rail systems.

        But rail supporters say it's time to end what they call 50 years of discrimination against the rail industry. They say the government's funding priorities have left rail's future out of the program.

        “Through the highway network, there is an ongoing massive subsidy to trucks and cars that creates a cost structure that makes it difficult for railroads to compete for business,” rail advocate and lobbyist Ray Chambers wrote in a recent article in Railway Age Magazine.

        Amtrak trains make daily stops at Indianapolis' Union Station to and from Chicago, with connections to Jeffersonville, Cincinnati and Washington.

        But the trains don't arrive until the wee hours of the morning at Union Station, making for a very long day for travelers.

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