ILLINOIS - Travel between Chicago and St. Louis in less than two hours on passenger trains running at 220 m.p.h. is an achievable goal that should be aggressively pursued, according to an analysis paid for by advocates of high-speed rail.

The feasibility study is intended to spur talks with state rail officials across the Midwest to look beyond current plans to operate trains at a maximum speed of 110 m.p.h. within several years using federal stimulus grants and state construction funds, according to the Midwest High Speed Rail Association, a non-profit group that commissioned the $65,000 study.

The study, which pegged the price of starting up the 220-m.p.h. service at $11.5 billion, will be publicly released Tuesday.

Trains traveling at 110 m.p.h. on Illinois' first high-speed corridor would make the 284-mile trip between Chicago and St. Louis in about four hours -- shaving 11/2 hours off current travel times by Amtrak trains now running up to 79 m.p.h., according to the Illinois Department of Transportation.

By going 220 m.p.h., however, those improved trip times would be cut roughly in half, to 1 hour and 52 minutes, according to the association. The estimate includes making intermediary stops in Champaign and Springfield, while providing customers with downtown-to-downtown service and beating the door-to-door trip times of airline travel.

The trip between Champaign and Chicago would take 45 minutes; and 90 minutes between Springfield and Chicago, the study said, adding that proposed train schedules would be based on roughly hourly departures to attract business and leisure travelers.