Late last year and early this year there was a lot of talk about IDOT and Amtrak doing a study on the feasibility of bringing passenger train service back to Peoria. At that time, it was estimated that the study would be completed by December 2007, or possibly early 2008 at the latest.
Yesterday, I e-mailed Illinois Department of Transportation spokesman George Weber to get an update on when that report would be available. He wrote, “The Peoria feasibility study will start sometime in early 2008. I don’t expect completion until Spring 2008.”
In a November e-mail to Mayor Ardis, he explained the reason the timeline had been pushed back. “Amtrak has been swamped with study requests since our success in the fall of 2006 and also has been busy responding to Federal legislative inquiries and requests for reports, hence the reason everything has been somewhat delayed.”
Peoria is in line to get its feasibility study after the Quad Cities study is completed. That study was due December 5, but has not yet been posted on the IDOT website.
“Swamped with requests???” Hum, I thought railroads were old fashioned? George Burrier and his rabid trail advocates said so. Could they be WRONG?
No, thousands of people are going to move to Peoria so they can ride their bikes down to the high-speed rail station at Bloomington-Normal, and the trip will be so envigorating on cold snowy nights like yesterday that they will all join the Rabid Trail Advocates.
What an inspiring fairy tale.