(The following story by Kurt Allemeier appeared on the Quad City Times website on January 8.)
DAVENPORT, Iowa — The Quad-Cities-to-Chicago passenger rail plan has to get on the gravy train to become reality.
An Amtrak Illinois study for the Illinois Department of Transportation estimates annual ridership of 110,800 people, but infrastructure improvements for passenger service could cost $14 million to $23 million. The report was released Monday.
The improvement costs were smaller than expected and less than the estimated $32.3 million for infrastructure improvements for a proposed Chicago-Rockford-Dubuque route. Local rail supporters anticipated infrastructure improvement costs as high as $45 million.
A lobbying effort has been going for about a year, and proponents say they can increase their efforts with a report in hand and more specific numbers to throw at legislators.
“We’ve got to start making sure we get some money,” said Rock Island County Board Chairman Jim Bohnsack, who also serves as chairman of the Quad-Cities Passenger Rail Coalition. “We just have to start working now with our legislators.”
A local groundswell of support may be swept under the political realities of Springfield. Legislators want a capital plan that could include funding for passenger rail infrastructure, but deciding how to fund capital improvements won’t be easy.
“There can be money found, it just depends on how,” Rep. Pat Verschoore, D-Milan, said.
Legislators are looking at an increase in casino gambling as the funding source. A gambling license for a land-based casino is available, but other discussion has centered on three additional new gaming licenses, Verschoore said.
“The kind of money they are talking about for a capital bill, one license isn’t going to do it,” he said. “The only option is casinos since the governor has said no to any tax increase.”
The feasibility of passenger rail to the Quad-Cities and Dubuque, Iowa, would benefit from the support of U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. Durbin has been a proponent of local passenger rail and organized a meeting in the Quad-Cities last year to start local efforts for a route to Chicago.
“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,” Durbin said in a news release about the rail study.
U.S. Rep. Phil Hare, D-Ill., also supported efforts to bring passenger rail service to the Quad-Cities.
Durbin would push for full funding of Amtrak’s operating budget that would pay for projects such as the needed rail upgrades, said Joe Shoemaker, a spokesman for the senator.
Two routes were considered between the Quad-Cities and Chicago. A route that went through Joliet that extended the route’s length and had less ridership was discounted.
Ridership on the favored route, with stops in Geneseo, Princeton, Mendota, Plano and Naperville, was based on two, 3-hour, 35-minute round trips each day. Annual operating costs for the route are estimated at $6 million, according to the report. A one-way ticket cost likely would be about $19, similar to the price of a one-way Galesburg-to-Chicago ticket, Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said.
Because of the five-hour, 10-minute trip, the Chicago-Dubuque route would run once each way daily, compared with the two round trips for the Quad-Cities-to-Chicago route. The Chicago-Dubuque route would have an estimated ridership of 74,500, Magliari said, but that was lower because of the once-a-day nature of the route.
The numbers aren’t a surprise for Paul Rumler, director of community and economic development for the Illinois Quad-Cities Chamber of Commerce. Tickets priced at less than what a half-tank of gasoline would cost make it attractive to college students, and young professionals in the area have been looking for “connectivity” with Chicago.
“We’ve been correct that the Quad-Cities will be a successful addition to Illinois’ rail ridership,” Rumler said. “People are looking for alternatives to high gas prices.”
The infrastructure needs for rail service between the Quad-Cities and Chicago include improving rail lines to accommodate speeds of 79 mph and also a connection track between Iowa Interstate Railway and Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway lines. By request of the Illinois Department of Transportation, high-speed rail wasn’t considered for the report.
Proposed schedules in the report show eastbound trains leaving at 8:40 a.m. and 6:40 p.m. and arriving in Chicago at noon and 10 p.m. Westbound trains would depart at 9:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. and arrive in the Quad-Cities at 12:50 p.m. and 9:50 p.m.
A similar feasibility report for a route between the Quad-Cities and Iowa City is expected to be released by the end of the month, a spokeswoman for the Iowa Department of Transportation said. Passenger rail service between the Quad-Cities and Iowa City would likely be on track built to handle speeds of up to 45 mph.