Amtrak to the Quad Cities looking good

Add comment January 8th, 2008

Amtrak just released a study of a proposed route from Chicago to the Quad Cities. Last year, Amtrak did a similar process for restoring a route from Chicago through Rockford to Dubuque, Iowa. This was expected - U.S. Sen Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, has pushed for both as ways to improve transportation options in northern Illinois. And both projects depend on the Illinois Legislature passing a capital construction plan, something that’s been years in the making.

The Quad Cities report is available here. The Rockford report is available here.

The big difference between the proposed routes is that the Quads route would use much of an existing Amtrak route to Quincy. The likely Quads route would go on the existing tracks through Naperville, Plano to Mendota, and Princeton, then continue on new tracks to the Quads.

Because of that, the Quads route would cost less than the Rockford route, which would require an upgrade of tracks through the whole route. The Quads route would cost $22.7 million for the 159-mile route, while the Rockford/Dubuque route would cost $32.3 million for the 182-mile route. The Quads route would also be about 33 percent faster, according to the Amtrak report (the Rockford route could increase its speed if more money were poured into it). And because it’s a shorter route, the Quads route would have two round trips a day, and an a projected 111,000 passengers a year vs. 74,500 passengers a year for the one-trip-a-day Rockford/Dubuque route.

That makes the Rockford/Dubuque route seem like more of an uphill battle. But two things are in our favor - our process started first, and we’ve had Amtrak service before.

That said, rail advocates wouldn’t call this a competition, they’d call both routes a victory.