Check out the map of the corridors that are in the running for the new federal funds the Obama administration announced today:

Minnesota is one of 8 Midwestern states which has applied for federal stimulus funds for high-speed rail.

Midwestern governors have proposed a first phase of a high-speed rail network that would connect Chicago to Madison, Wis., the Detroit area and St. Louis. Those rail lines could be operating by 2014 at an estimated cost of .4 billion, the governors said.

Extending the Chicago-Madison line to the Twin Cities would be part of the projects’ second phase.

Separately, Transportation Department officials said the Chicago hub system is one of about six proposed routes that stand a good chance of getting some of the billion award.