Durbin: Study Brings Amtrak One Step Closer to Quad Cities

Press Release

Durbin: Study Brings Amtrak One Step Closer to Quad Cities

U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) today joined with regional officials to discuss the prospects for Amtrak service from Chicago to the Quad Cities following the release of a feasibility study last month.

"Last year, we held a meeting that showed us that the Quad Cities are committed to bringing Amtrak back to the area," Durbin said. "We now have a feasibility study that shows us that adding rail service between the Quad Cities and Chicago will give businesses and tourists a time competitive and convenient alternative to driving. Amtrak already provides quick, cost-effective, and reliable public ground transportation to 30 communities in the state — it's time to add the Quad Cities to that list."

The Illinois Department of Transportation requested the study following a public forum Durbin hosted in Rock Island one year ago. The feasibility report found the most promising route between the Quad Cities and Chicago would be over a portion of the former Rock Island Railroad now owned by Iowa Interstate Railroad from the Quad Cities to a proposed track connection to the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway near Wyanet, Ill.

New Amtrak service to the Quad Cities would have multiple benefits. Residents from the Quad Cities and Chicago would be able to travel between each region and points in between for recreation, school, and work opportunities. In addition, new Amtrak service to the Quad Cities would take cars off of I-80 and other Illinois highways. This would reduce traffic congestion, gasoline consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.

"Extending Amtrak service to the Quad Cities makes sense on many levels," Durbin said, "and I look forward to working with Amtrak and government officials in Illinois and Iowa in what I hope will be a process that will bring Amtrak to the Quad Cities and other regions of Illinois."

In the report, the approximate cost of upgrading the railroad infrastructure to accommodate passenger train speeds is $14-to-23 million, over the shortest, fastest and least costly of the potential routes. Not included in this figure are any capital expenses for railcars and locomotives, nor the local costs of providing stations.

The annual state operating cost for the possible routes is in the $6-million range. Quad Cities-Chicago travel times of about 3 1/2 hours are possible and would be competitive with automobile driving, dependant on the choice of routes, agreements with host railroads and required infrastructure improvements.

Durbin said all three current state Amtrak routes - from Chicago to Carbondale, St. Louis, and Quincy - have shown a double digit increase in recent years. "The growth in ridership on Illinois' Amtrak corridors shows that Illinois residents are looking for a quick, cost-effective, and reliable public ground transportation system. Amtrak provides just that to 30 communities and 3 million people in Illinois. We need to add the communities in northwest and north central Illinois to that list."

The Quad Cities is roughly a one-hour drive to the nearest Amtrak line, the "Zephyr", which runs from Chicago to Quincy. Currently, Quad Cities area residents can take a shuttle bus to Galesburg to catch the Zephyr. The area has been without intercity passenger rail service since the Rock Island Railroad's "Rocket" line that ran from the Quad Cities to Chicago ceased operating in 1978. The "Rocket" was not a part of the Amtrak system.

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