Outrage. Disbelief. Skepticism. These were all feelings people told me they had while reading my April Fools Day post — a mock news report saying all Peoria flights would be going through Bloomington’s airport.
Everybody recognizes that flying to Bloomington and switching planes would be silly. Those who fly want direct flights to major hub cities, like Chicago.
Yet local leaders are actively pursuing something equally absurd: a passenger train to Normal. Instead of pursuing a direct route to Chicago, local leaders are all too willing to settle for a shuttle to the twin cities where passengers can switch to another train that will then take them to Chicago.
It will never work. People take the train to save time and money. A train into Chicago saves time since gridlock traffic can be averted getting into the city. Money is saved because a round-trip ticket is less than the cost to park in Chicago, let alone the cost of gas to drive there.
But going from Peoria to Chicago via a connecting train in Bloomington will add considerable time and expense — time and expense that can be avoided by simply driving to Bloomington and parking for free. And that’s what people will do.
The city should be pursuing direct passenger rail service to Chicago, not a shuttle to Bloomington-Normal. For additional reasons, see David Jordan’s posts on this topic here and here.
Hey, it’s better than nothing.
I agree. Anything incrementally better than nothing is worth pursuing. /sarcasm
Simplest way to make a direct connection to Chicago is to upgrade the T. P. & W tracks to Chenoa, then northeast on the existing St. Louis-Chicago tracks (Sante Fe?) Thirty years ago, Amtrack experimented with that route, but there weren’t enough riders to make it profitable. Track upgrades would be a lot cheaper than trying to build a new track to Bloomington and the connection would be closer to Chicago.
Not sure high-speed rail is cost effective, except in the heavily populated Northeast US.
The bureaucrats are locked into the idea of the I-55 corridor being what they call high speed rail and I call a joke. (I don’t believe it will ever be a 200mph smooth riding train) The decade worth of funding effort for track upgrades has Normal squarely destine to be a transportation hub…. For anyone to admit now that track upgrades are not the best route to the end goal is like trying to stop a freight train. So do I agree with the wisdom, no, but the momentum is there so Peoria might as well jump on board.
Comet,
Union Pacific owns the majority of Amtrak’s Chicago-St. Louis route. And there is no reason to “build a new track to Bloomington” since Norfolk Southern’s line is already in place.
Marc,
There is no “momentum” with the Peoria-Normal idea. But rather, it’s just a bad idea being tossed around by those who know nothing about railroads, and just want to be part of the latest club for cool kids (“high speed” rail). After all, a Peoria-Normal rail commuter service was studied in 1998-1999 then dropped.
I still haven’t heard a compelling argument on why we can’t have it both ways: have direct Peoria-Chicago trains routed through Bloomington-Normal. This would save money on trackage needed to be built/upgraded, improve service frequencies to Bloomington-Normal (busiest Amtrak station in the state other than Chicago-Union), and still provide one-seat trips for Peo-Chi trips.
Sterling,
I’ve suggested same-train service via Bloomington. Stops would be made there, but no change of train required.
I am glad they are discussing trains and not smelly buses.
Peoria needs to do a lot more downtown redevelopment if it wants to avoid becoming its unofficial sister city (East St. Louis). A direct Peoria-Chicago route would be the first step in revitalizing infrastructure.
Being forced to take the train from Peoria to Bloomington/Normal and then to Chicago only strengthens the B/N area as a major transportation hub at the expense of Peoria.
Why does it only have to be a connection to Normal ? Why can’t at least 2 pair of daily through trains operate between Chicago and Peoria via Normal and then “maybe” someday also have shuttle trains between Normal and Peoria to connect with other Chicago and St Louis bound trains at Normal ?