Category Archives: Amtrak

Amtrak, City of Peoria

Amtrak service being considered for Peoria?

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Amtrak LogoThe Quad-City Times reports on the possibility of Amtrak service being expanded in the state (emphasis mine):

Officials throughout Illinois have been invited to discuss such an expansion during a meeting to be hosted Tuesday by Amtrak president Alex Kummant and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

[…] The Tuesday summit, scheduled to take place in a refurbished Amtrak station in downtown Champaign, is an attempt to build on the train ridership increases Illinois has seen in recent years.

Along with the potential for adding service to the Quad-Cities, the meeting will address an ongoing study looking at the feasibility of providing Amtrak service to Rockford. The talks also will touch on the prospect of adding a Peoria stop to Amtrak’s offerings.

Even though this is highly speculative right now, it’s nice to know that it’s at least on the radar. There was just a letter to the editor today from a Peorian who would like to see Amtrak service from Peoria again — I’ll bet there are a lot of people who feel that way. And since the “River Station” (actually the Rock Island Depot) is vacant, it could become a depot once again, this time for Amtrak — a perfect addition to Peoria’s downtown renaissance.

Hat tip: David Jordan (via PeoriaRails Yahoo! Group).

Amtrak, Kellar Branch, Peoria Journal Star

Hell freezes over: Journal Star runs pro-rail article

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Two of them, actually. You can read them here and here. Kudos to the editors for publishing some pro-rail information for a change.

Steve Tarter, who I recently learned is a railfan, wrote both articles. The latter one even talks favorably about running a rail and trail side-by-side on the Kellar Branch. This idea had been suggested years ago, but was rejected by the Park District based on a “feasibility study” that was supposedly done showing it would be cost-prohibitive.

Funny thing, when asked to produce said feasibility study, the Park District was never able to provide a copy. Sharon Deckard of the Illinois Prairie Railroad Foundation (IPRRF) asked for a copy at the time and never got one, and I asked for a copy about a year ago and was told the so-called “feasibility study” consisted of “engineering drawings” and a spreadsheet — a spreadsheet that the park district couldn’t currently locate. Huh.

It was suggested at the meeting that the IPRRF do its own feasibility study, and that may happen soon. I joked that all we really need to do is confidently assert that we’ve done one that shows the project is completely feasible. Then if the park district challenges us on it, we offer to show them our feasibility study once they show us theirs. Ha!

Seriously, though, one could get the impression from reading the article that commuter rail is the main reason IPRRF wants to save the Kellar Branch. But truth is, the main reason to keep the Kellar Branch is for hauling freight, not passenger rail. Freight service on the Kellar Branch line will allow rail-served businesses to be courted for Pioneer Park and Growth Cell Two, which would bring more jobs into Peoria.

Passenger rail could very likely be a future additional use of the tracks. But right now, as much as I love passenger rail, I’m going to have to agree with my readers (and disagree with IPRRF) that it’s probably not very realistic to have commuter rail in Peoria at this time, other than intercity transit.

What is feasible now? I’d like to see Amtrak service restored to Peoria. I’d even be happy with a diesel-powered trolley car that would run between Galesburg and Normal via Peoria to take passengers to those Amtrak stations, although I’d prefer a more direct route between Chicago and St. Louis, of course.

Amtrak, State Legislation, State of Illinois

New state budget includes money for more Amtrak routes

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The Chicago Tribune reports that funding for Amtrak routes in Illinois was doubled in the 2007 budget — from $12 million to $24 million — so they’re planning to use that money for “[t]wo additional daily Amtrak roundtrips between Chicago and St. Louis and an extra run each on the Quincy and Carbondale lines….”

I hope the extra trains make it possible for me to take Amtrak down to St. Louis for a Cardinals game and come back the same day.

Even before gas prices started soaring, I would always take the train to Chicago for business meetings and stuff because it was so much cheaper than driving. Parking alone can cost you $20 up there, plus gas and tolls. The train? $30 round trip. And, frankly, it’s the civilized way to travel. I bet adding more routes will increase ridership.

Now, when are we going to get a passenger train to come through Peoria again? We can always re-convert the old Rock Island Depot (aka “The River Station”) back into a train station.