So much is happening in Illinois with new passenger rail projects that I am feeling bewildered. By the way, I live on the west coast, so I am far from the action. Here is what I have heard so far:
High-speed rail from Chicago to Iowa City using both the old CB&Q and CRI&P. (link)
A new Amtrak train from Chicago to Dubuque via Genoa, IL, for 2014. Apparently there was some debate on the route for this one.
Is that a complete list? Some questions I have right now:
If the St. Louis project is constructed, does that cancel the Iowa City project? Or are they completely independent?
Does the St. Louis train follow the old Chicago & Alton mainline? Last time I was in Pontiac, IL, in the mid-80’s, the C&A had been reduced to a single track with passing sidings. There were still those neat, big, distinctive position-light signals in place, too. If that is their selected route, I suspect they have a lot of work to do.
What is the reason for a new Amtrak train to Dubuque? Is that part of the high-speed rail set of projects, or is that totally separate? It does not appear on the map linked below, so I am wondering.
There are also incremental mprovements to Chicago-Milwaukee and Chicago-Detroit/Port Huron service planned, and both of those corridors are intended to be improved long-term to 110-mph or better. Chicago-Dubuque will use the southern route. Chicago-Dubuque long-term may be extended to Waterloo, Iowa. Plus there are some CREATE projects intended to improve freight/passenger interaction in Chicago, plus some planned METRA extensions.
Completely independent, except of course they will share Chicago Union Station and possibly pool equipment, management, marketing, etc. Also, note that the Chicago-St. Louis 110-mph project is already under construction; work began in late summer.
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Does the St. Louis train follow the old Chicago & Alton mainline? Last time I was in Pontiac, IL, in the mid-80’s, the C&A had b
The Chicago-St Louis line (formerly aka ICG) will indeed require a lot of work. While at one time in the recent past the UP would have considered selling the line, perhaps to the State of Illinois, they now forecast traffic to build to over 20 freight trains per day. In order to do that and host passenger trains at 110MPH, they have decided that the railroad will have to be completely rebuilt with double track on concrete ties, high speed turn-outs for crossovers at eight mile intervals, additional passing sidings at frequent intervals and main track built to Class VI specs to allow the passenger train speeds.
Add to that the bill for a signal system allowing 110MPH passenger and the expected price tag for the whole thing is $4.1 billion.
New Joliet Transportation Center. New alignment of the BNSF UP/CN ROW with passenger tunnels
to avoid passengers having to cross tracks. May be new Rock & Metra Heritage boarding areas. May be some new track connections built.
New BNSF ROW rebuilt in Galesburg with grade crossings & other improvements. The old ATSF route may be abandoned.
Rockford & Peoria may be the 2 largest IL city with no passenger rail. The “southern route” will be the best chance to have passenger rail to that corner of the state. There may be no interest in improving US20. Neither Iowa routes can be considered HSR with 79mph trains. The Rocket routes to Iowa City & Des Moines at least connect with some large populations.
The selection of the southern route through Genoa (pop. 4200) rather than the northern route, through Marengo, Huntley (which has a large Del Webb retirement community) and Belvidere (combined populations = 54610), was controversial.
Interesting. I used to live in Galesburg so am familiar with the lay of the land there. How much of the AT&SF route would they abandon under that plan? I always thought the AT&SF was the faster route through town.
The Tribune article does NOT indicate that the STAR Line project is alive, but on hold b/c of lack of funding. Cheaper projects are all that are envisioned in NE Illinois.
One of the main reasons for the southern route being selected was that for the most part only one (CN) railroad is involved instead of three(Metra/UP/CN) and CN has already upgraded large sections on the line so the cost was about 1/2 the northern route (3 vs 6 mil.). With Genoa you have to remember that it is only 5 miles from the DeKalb/Sycamore/NIU area with about 53,000.
I wouldn’t be surprised to eventually see the NIU or DeKalb bus lines running service to meet the train, similar to the NIU service to Elburn’s Metra station.
As Harvey pointed out before at the hearings, the inclusion of DeKalb as a potential market to Genoa is a dubious choice. The best route would have been UP all the way to Rockford (via West Chicago, South Elgin, Huntley, Marengo and Belvidere) and then CN/IC beyond Rockford to Dubuque.
Why would anyone in DeKalb (NIU students, etc.) take a bus to Genoa (16 miles to NIU, not 5) to ride trains that run a few times a day, when they could ride a bus, 18 miles to Elburn (unfortunately only two per day currently on Fridays, three on Sunday) to catch the frequent Metra service (21 trains per weekday to Chicago)? Better yet, just extend some Metra trains to DeKalb.
May I suggest that most projects in Illinois were mentioned or brought up in election season. With the state fourteen billion dollars in debt and the feds thirteen trillion no money is available so don’t hold your breath.
