Michigan's High Speed Train Plan: On Track or Derailed? ANN ARBOR, MI (Michigan Radio) -

Thursday, the Obama administration plans to announce which states will receive billions of dollars to build high-speed rail systems. Michigan officials are among those paying close attention.

Last year's federal economic stimulus act included $8 billion for developing high speed rail. The Obama administration has been wading thru the various proposals sent in by states and is now ready to announce the winners.

Michigan is part of an 8-state bid, which would include a high speed rail hub in the president's home city of Chicago. The bid has a high speed rail link to Detroit.

Eva Kassens is an assistant professor at Michigan State University, where she's currently studying Michigan communities which may be along a high speed rail route. She says the benefits of high speed rail go beyond getting quickly from here to there.

"Our world is faced with a challenge of climate change...and faced with a challenge that transportation is one of the highest contributors of green house gases which cause climate change," says Kassens, "We need to think about different ways of traveling."

The Granholm administration is declining comment on the high speed rail funding announcement. © Copyright 2012, Michigan Radio