Eight states want federal stimulus funds for a network of high-speed trains with one of the first routes to be built coming right through Northwest Indiana.

"As far as Chicago to Michigan and Detroit, yes we want that to happen and we want it to stop at the Gary airport," said Dennis Hodges, vice president and founder of the Indiana High Speed Rail Association.

Governors from Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin have sent a letter to U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood asking for his support.

A first phase would upgrade passenger-train routes from Chicago to Pontiac, Mich., via Detroit; from Chicago to St. Louis; and from Chicago to Madison, Wis.

Officials say the cost of the initial phase would be about $3.5 billion and that it could be done by 2014. That would be in time for the 2016 Olympic Games, which Chicago is competing to host.

The Indiana High Speed Rail Association and Gary/Chicago International Airport long have had plans for a multimodal rail center at the airport.

According to Hodges, the airport could host four high-speed train routes running from Chicago to the cities of Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati, and Louisville, Ky.

The Gary airport project was discussed at an international high-speed rail seminar the Indiana High Speed Rail Association hosted in March in Merrillville.

A statement Wednesday from Missouri's governor doesn't specify how much of the $8 billion in the federal stimulus bill for high-speed rail the states will seek.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.