(The following report by Rajah Maples appeared on the KHQA website on August 11.)
QUINCY, ILL. — The high cost of gas is pushing many travelers between Michigan and Chicago to passenger trains.
The number of riders on several Amtrak train routes rose between October and July.
That Associated Press report got us wondering about how the Quincy to Chicago routes are faring.
KHQA’s Rajah Maples spoke with Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari Monday afternoon.
He told her between October 2007 and last month, ridership on the Quincy/Chicago routes went up 19 percent from the previous year.
That’s an increase of almost 31-thousand more passengers.
The Carl Sandburg line was added between Quincy and Chicago in October of 2006 to help keep up with increased demand.