(The following story by John R. Pulliam appeared on the Register-Mail website on July 10.)
GALESBURG, Ill. — Citing the need for a greater exchange to provide additional passenger rail station improvement resources, Amtrak has invited communities along the 2,438-mile route of the Amtrak California Zephyr to a “civic conversation” in Denver on July 24 as part of its “Great American Stations” Initiative.
The California Zephyr stops in Galesburg twice daily. Galesburg is one of only four stops in Illinois, the others being Chicago, Naperville and Princeton.
Amtrak President and CEO Alex Kummant sent “Great American Stations Civic Conversation” invitations to mayors and other civic leaders and state officials in California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois.
Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said Monday, “In your neighborhood, we invited Princeton, Galesburg, Mount Pleasant (Iowa) and Burlington (Iowa). … We invited (Galesburg) Mayor (Gary) Smith and, according to this list, they called us back and declined on the 26th” of June.
Smith said not only will he be on vacation that week, he does not feel it’s worth spending the taxpayers’ money to make the trip to Denver.
Cities along the route will see the results of a recently concluded review of each of the 35 stations, with specific suggestions for upgrades at each facility. Magliari said reviews will not be released until the conference. However, he said of the depot in Galesburg, “I think we would all acknowledge the station is too small. It was too small before the addition of the new route to handle the volume.
“The inability to check baggage there is unfortunate, too,” he said.
“I’ve always thought our station was a little small,” Smith agreed, “plus we don’t have adequate parking.”
In addition to the California Zephyr, six other Amtrak trains stop in Galesburg daily. Ticket revenue here was just more than $4.3 million in fiscal year 2006, with total ridership of 76,464. FY 2006 was from October 2005-September 2006. Ridership in Galesburg soared to 85,722 in the first seven months of FY 2007, with the addition of state-supported Carl Sandburg service in October.
However, Smith said the city has to be realistic because of finances.
“To be honest with you, I think the only way we could realistically build a bigger depot is with federal and state money,” the mayor said.
The Galesburg depot, 225 S. Seminary St., was built for less than $300,000 in 1984. Funding was provided by the city, Amtrak and the Illinois Department of Transportation. The land was donated by the then-Burlington Northern Railroad. The pew-type seating came from the much larger, brick depot demolished before the construction of the current depot. The city maintains the station’s exterior, while Amtrak takes care of the interior.