Amtrak ridership is up — way up — in Illinois.
That should be a shot in the arm for efforts to bring Amtrak to Peoria. Amtrak and IDOT are still working on a feasibility study considering that possibility. The last update I heard said that the study should be completed by the end of 2007.
There are a couple of route possibilities I’ve heard bandied about. One would be an east-west train that would connect the Quad Cities, Galesburg, Peoria, Bloomington, and Champaign. The other would be a direct Peoria-Chicago connection. The latter would be my first choice, but the former has its advantages, too. (If they went with the former, I’d like to see it eventually extend all the way to Indianapolis, or even Columbus. Of course, that would take a commitment from Indiana and Ohio.)
Hopefully Congressman Ray LaHood won’t do anything to torpedo the idea before he leaves office.
If Peoria is gonna get Amtrak service then Chicago is the best option, probably via the old Rock Island Rocket route. Not the quickest possible route but the most densely populated and at least the track is in place and in regular use by freight trains.
David is right. The former Rock Island route to Chicago is the best way to go. The second-most-important (and feasible) route would be one to Normal to give us a connection with the line to St. Louis (which will be the first in Illinois to become truly high-speed). Everyone in the tri-county area should be standin up and strongly supporting both of these efforts. Both are crucial to the economic survival of the area (or maybe you want Caterpillar to move its headquarters to Bloomington?).
If Amtrak shows interest in starting Peoria – St. Louis service (if Chicago service is proven successful) then there are probably two good routing options, both of which would require some track and signal improvements.
I would love direct trains from Peoria to St Louis and Chicago. I would use them.
What would turn me off big time is if I had to change trains or if the train had to sit on the rails waiting on freight, for any length of time in Normal or Rock Island or wherever.
I was spoiled with good train service in Europe. My expectations are high.
I have a source at IDOT who hates Peoria because allegedly Peoria’s leadership can’t agree on anything. Supposedly, IDOT has tried to get Peoria to run Citylink buses on Sundays for 10 years with no success. Peoria doesn’t want to spend any money. I would love to see trains stopping at the station down by the river, I wouldn’t mind taking a train to Bloomington to transfer to the Lincoln Service, but good luck making anything happen until the local leadership commits.
For any Amtrak service to work here, it must be same-train service to and from Chicago. Frequent connecting trains between Peoria and Lincoln Service trains at Normal probably wouldn’t work given the slow and circuitous route to get across the river. If the station were on W. Washington St. across from the police and fire HQ in East Peoria, that’d be a different story.
Peoria’s leaders are clueless – that’s why they can’t agree on anythihg. They don’t know what they’re doing, and instead rely on “experts” to tell them what to do, like developers, Peoria Park District, etc.
David, if you’re an expert, then why don’t you step up to the plate and recommend them to do something other than sitting at a computer and typing it all out on some Web site? Step it up a bit.
Anonymous wrote: “David, if you’re an expert, then why don’t you step up to the plate and recommend them to do something other than sitting at a computer and typing it all out on some Web site? Step it up a bit.”
Big words coming from someone that doesn’t identify themselves!
Excuse me but David Jordan has stepped in and said his piece in council meetings both in Peoria and Peoria Heights. He has done the work and the research to back up his remarks and he does step up and be heard.
Peoria needs rail service. Nuff said!