(The following story by Kurt Erickson appeared on the Bloomington Pantagraph website on February 6.)
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Illinois transportation officials and Amtrak are considering plans to add more passenger trains to the Chicago-St. Louis corridor.
Acting on a request from the Illinois Department of Transportation, Amtrak is compiling figures to determine the costs of adding trains to the current selection of three that roll through Bloomington-Normal every day.
“We’re responding because we think it’s an interesting idea,” said Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari. “We’re responding to their questions and developing information that they’ve requested.”
Efforts to bring more trains to Central Illinois come as the town of Normal is trying to build a transportation hub downtown that would combine a train station, bus station and taxi service into one central facility.
IDOT spokesman Matt Vanover said expansion talks are in “very preliminary” stages, and he could not offer a timetable as to when the state would like to add the passenger rail service.
Both spokesmen, however, said boosting the number of trains could add to the already mushrooming ridership numbers seen on the corridor.
Amtrak reports show the number of riders grew 29 percent in the final three months of 2003. That comes after a 13 percent increase in the preceding 12 months.
In all, 254,946 passengers rode the route in fiscal 2003.
Three trains a day pass through Bloomington-Normal:
o The Statehouse, which runs round-trip from St. Louis to Chicago.
o The Ann Rutledge, which runs round-trip from Chicago to Kansas City.
o The Texas Eagle, which runs round-trip from Chicago to San Antonio.
It was not clear whether the talks could result in additional money being added to the upcoming state budget. The state’s fiscal year begins July 1.
Currently, the state pays Amtrak $12 million as part of an eight-year agreement to keep passenger trains operating throughout the state. IDOT also has invested millions of dollars upgrading tracks and other technology aimed at one day bringing high-speed rail to the line.
Overall, Amtrak experienced the highest ridership in its 32-year history during the preceding fiscal year, when more than 24 million passengers boarded trains across the nation.