With Gov. Terry Branstad balking at the cost, the Iowa City area could help pick up the bill to operate an Iowa City-to-Chicago passenger rail line.
The City Council last night gave its approval to send a letter to the state saying the city would pursue local funding for Amtrak service. The city did not commit itself to spending any money, though.
Something is fishy on its face. Operation of the Rock Island-Iowa City segment is supposed to cost the state of Iowa $3 million a year; but, if Iowa City underwrites it, the cost is 10 percent of that?
I realize this is probably a typical news story, in which we get half of the info we need.
Right, Schlimm, but between Rock Island and Iowa City on the old Rock Island Lines you have Davenport, Walcott, Stockton, Durant, Wilton, Moscow, Atalissa, West Liberty and Downey, of which only Davenport and West Liberty were stops in the old days. You don’t want to know the populations of any of them after Davenport.
Absent the state, this would be the baby of Davenport and Iowa City, and I betcha Davenport isn’t going to make up the difference between $300,000 and $3 million.
I’m not certain, but I don’t think Downey is even an incorporated “city.” I think Schlimm is on the right track (unavoidable pun) about what Iowa City is thinking. Mainly, that if the other on-line communities will come up with their share, each only has to put in $300,000.
DakotaFred is correct about how well that’s going to go over.
Would one way to cut down the various locations in Iowa would be to charge any resident of a non-supporting community a stiff parking fee and maybe even an access fee for those who do not park? Leave details to others?
The Iowa City City Council has taken up a proposal to become Iowa’s first “Sanctuary City” (a place where there will be no official harrassment of illegal aliens)… I figure that the money they are going to save by hiring all these illegal aliens at less than stellar salaries will be where they get the cash to fund this Amtrak deal.
Assuming Illinois’ credit is still good enough to float a note, it goes as far as Moline. A short drive across the bridge sits Davenport. Why would they pay to run it a few more miles?
Like most college towns, Iowa City undergoes periodic episodes of municipal silliness. For example, it is the only Iowa town that has proclaimed itself a “nuclear bomb free” zone. It was never clear to me that the Russians, Chinese and assorted others had concurred with that designation! [(-D]
The Quad Cities station for the proposed service is in Moline, and I understand funds have already been committed to building a station. If Davenport contributes funds to this undertaking, should it be expecting its own station 10 miles from the Moline station?
A slow ride from Iowa City to Cedar Rapids could hook another city with more than one grain elevator into paying for it. It is doubtful that will happen.
If local government funding catches on, routing could get interesting. A train diverging from the quickest path to pick up funding could resemble a school bus route. So much for getting anywhere with competitive haste.
Who cares that takes forever to get to Chicago. Our town has a train just like Chicago.
Moline would be the only Quad-Cities’ station. It’s right on I-74, and somewhat centrally located. A station anywhere else would be redundant and much more difficult to use.
How times have changed. I was reading a Quad-Cities history book that said in 1900 there were 102 scheduled daily passenger trains that stopped at the Davenport depot. It’s hard to imagine.
This thread, for some reason, made be think about that ordinance. They used to (and maybe still do, I don’t get back that way as much as I used to) have signs coming into town with a red circle and bar over a mushroom cloud. Maybe they could devote the fines collected for having a nuclear explosive device within the city limits to funding for the passenger train.
It’s got to be more than just being a college town. I’ve lived near Ames (Iowa State) now for about 16 years after living near Iowa City (Univ. of Iowa) for about 30+ years. Even though in both areas the majority political views are on the left, Iowa City seems to be much more “vocal” about it. Such as prohibiting nuclear weapons. (It wasn’t Russian, Chinese, or any other foriegn entity’s weapons they were concerned with. It was a statement on their opposition to U.S. policy)
I’m wondering where the Iowa City station would be located? The old station is private property, and is poorly located for convenient use. Terrible parking. I’m thinking the best location for a station would be just a tiny bit further west at Kinnick Stadium. It’s within easy walking distance of most of the dorms as well as many of the apartments. It’s located right on the bus routes, plus there’s plenty of parking. It would make the most sense to me. I wonder how much thought they’ve put into it?
The Iowa DOT Office of Rail website has information on the station locations as well as drawings, etc. The City of Iowa City’s choice for the location at the time of the application to the FRA for funding was the former Rock Island depot.
The Johnson County Board of Supervisors will send a letter to state transportation officials pledging local contributions for passenger rail operations between Iowa City and Chicago…
The county has not yet approved exactly how much it would be willing to contribute if plans for the Iowa City-Chicago project move forward.