(The following article by Mike Ramsey was distributed by Copley News Service on August 16.)
CHICAGO — Ridership increased over the past year on Amtrak trains hired by the Illinois Department of Transportation, including the State House and the Illinois Zephyr, officials recently announced.
The State House, that runs between Chicago and St. Louis via Normal and Springfield, racked up 107,732 riders in the state fiscal year that ended June 30, a 12.2 percent increase over the 95,933 passengers carried in the previous annual period. Ridership peaked four years earlier – at roughly 112,000 people – but under a different train schedule.
On the Illinois Zephyr, linking Chicago and Quincy via Galesburg, ridership jumped from 96,260 to 104,516 (8.6 percent) in the past year, the highest in a decade, according to Amtrak and IDOT. Ridership on the Chicago-to-Carbondale Illini trains increased from 96,595 riders to 108,099 (11.9 percent).
“Passenger rail is an integral part of our transportation system; for many towns along these routes it’s the only form of public transportation,” IDOT Secretary Tim Martin said in a written statement. “These increased numbers show there continues to be a demand for passenger rail.”
Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari cited the railroad’s improved reliability, better maintenance of its equipment and nuts-and-bolts marketing efforts as factors that have attracted more riders.
“The marketing we’ve done in the last 12 months has been designed to basically tell people where the trains go and when and at what fare,” he said.
IDOT contracts with Amtrak to operate a daily round-trip on each of the three downstate rail corridors that lead to and from Chicago, plus several round-trips daily to Milwaukee. IDOT partners with the state of Wisconsin to finance the Hiawatha trains; ridership rose on them 12.8 percent to 439,865 over the last year.
The announcement about the passenger gains comes as IDOT is negotiating a new contract with Amtrak to replace an agreement that expired July 1. The state agency has $12.1 million earmarked for passenger trains, the same as it spent the previous year, but that may not buy the same amount of service.
The state-supported trains are different from cross-country Amtrak trains, such as the Texas Eagle, that also make stops in Illinois cities. Chicago is the intercity railroad’s Midwestern hub. Federally subsidized Amtrak is seeking its latest grant from Congress.