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On Feb. 23, the Illinois General Assembly is expected to vote on a bill that would create an Illinois High Speed Rail Authority.

The authority would be charged with designing, financing, building and operating a high-speed rail network with trains operating at speeds up to 220 mph. The Illinois Department of Transportation would continue to be responsible for overseeing upgrades on existing corridors to achieve speeds up to 110 mph.

“Just two states — Florida and California — have active 220-mph high speed rail plans,” said Illinois Sen. Martin Sandoval, who chairs the transportation committee and authoried the bill, in a prepared statement. “By establishing this authority, Illinois would become only the third state to take a giant step toward fast and clean transportation.”