(The following story by Dave Gathman appeared on the Courier News website on November 21.)
GENOA, Ill. — As soon as two or three years from now, Genoa could have Amtrak rail service.
That was the word from City Administrator Joe Misurelli as he delivered an upbeat wrap-up of the city’s economic development in 2008 to members of the Genoa Area Chamber of Commerce Thursday.
Misurelli said both houses of Congress have approved an Amtrak funding bill that includes adding service along the Canadian National Railroad line from Chicago to Dubuque, Iowa. Along the way, the trains would stop in Genoa, Rockford, Freeport and Galena.
However, the new service cannot become reality until the state legislature approves matching operating funds and a state capital spending bill that includes money to build stations and sidings along the way.
Misurelli said Amtrak envisions running one train in the morning eastbound, stopping in Genoa about 7:45 a.m. and reaching Chicago about 9, plus one in the evening westbound, leaving Chicago about 5 p.m. and stopping in Genoa about 6:30.
Nearby DeKalb is located on one of the busiest freight railroad lines in the United States, Union Pacific’s Chicago-Los Angeles mainline. Yet Northern Illinois University there is the only state university that has no passenger rail service. So Amtrak and state planners expect the new route to be connected to NIU by a shuttle bus running up Illinois 23 between DeKalb and Genoa.
“Nothing can happen until this is funded by the state, and some people say that won’t happen as long as we have our current governor,” Misurelli said. “But once this is funded, it would only take two construction seasons to get the service going.”
He said the Genoa station might be built along Sycamore Street, near where CN forerunner Illinois Central Railroad operated a depot that still stands there, although badly deteriorated. The station might be no more elaborate than a bus-stop-like shelter, Misurelli added.