New routes, opportunities create momentum for QC passenger rail

To help get passenger rail service from Chicago to the Quad Cities on track, leaders are mulling alternative routes and lawmakers are preparing to leverage a potential Chicago Transit Authority bailout in Springfield to help make it happen. Those new developments also have created “new momentum” in the 16-year effort to bring passenger rail service […]

To help get passenger rail service from Chicago to the Quad Cities on track, leaders are mulling alternative routes and lawmakers are preparing to leverage a potential Chicago Transit Authority bailout in Springfield to help make it happen.

Those new developments also have created “new momentum” in the 16-year effort to bring passenger rail service here, according to Illinois state Sen. Mike Halpin, D-Rock Island, state Rep. Gregg Johnson, D-East Moline, and city leaders who gathered on Monday, March 3, in the Moline Police Station community room to share developments. Moline Mayor Sangeetha Rayapati, whose city built a new passenger rail station in 2016  to welcome new train visitors, was hosting her second press conference on the fight to win the service. “Two years ago at that first press conference I stood with Sen. Halpin and Rep. Johnson and called on federal powers to help get the Quad Cities to Chicago connection for rail completed with IDOT (Illinois Department of Transportation), Amtrak and Iowa Interstate Railroad as the main players,” she said. That service is important for the entire region, Ms. Rayapati said, echoing comments she made at the Quad Cities Chamber Mayors Breakfast on Friday, Feb. 21, when she was asked what Quad Citians can do to move the community forward. “My answer was we needed to be focused on zero stagnation and zero isolation, and the reason I said that is because of this project,” Ms. Rayapati said Monday. “With the Federal Railroad Administration giving us only 1.5 years of an extension to the federal money allotted for this project, there’s now new momentum to find solutions that benefit the people of Illinois and the Quad Cities region,” she added.

Alternative routes

“After some positive movement with negotiations over the past two years, IDOT has shared several solutions that are on the table at the moment,” she added. Included are two alternative routes added by IDOT to the locally preferred direct course that would go from Chicago to Moline via Wyanet, Illinois, on the Iowa Interstate Railroad. (That company has so far derailed the project by refusing to join the effort to make the track upgrades necessary to make the route a reality, leaders said.) The new proposed routes would instead run on BNSF Railroad lines and they would be cheaper because they would run from Chicago via the existing Galesburg passenger rail track. One route to Moline would go by way of Barstow, Illinois, and the other via nearby Colona. The challenge for those alternatives, Mr. Halpin said, would be whether the longer travel distances they require will be affordable and timesaving compared to driving. For that reason, Mr. Halpin said leaders continue to believe the direct passenger rail route through Wyanet via Amtrak and Iowa Interstate is the best option despite its higher cost. “It’s a shorter route and if that track is upgraded to what it needs to be, that is going to be the most cost efficient and time efficient way to get back and forth to Chicago,” he said. “But at the same time – especially in recent days and weeks – it’s become clear that their reliance on Amtrak and the federal government's ability to to honor their commitments is in doubt and so I think we need to explore additional options that don’t necessarily rely on the federal government and on Amtrak,” he said.

Identifying opportunities

“We want to also identify opportunities where we can benefit from some of those public transportation dollars; whether it’s the Metra or another provider that can get service to the Quad Cities in a fast, reliable and affordable way,” Mr. Halpin said. Rep. Johnson was even more blunt. “I am here today to make one thing crystal clear: I will not support any transit package this year that does not include dedicated passenger rail service from Chicago to the Quad Cities,” he said. “This package has been delayed for far too long and our communities cannot afford to wait any longer.” Quad Cities Chamber President and CEO Peter Tokar III agreed. “This spring, the Chicago Transit system is requiring over a billion dollars in subsidies and support through the Illinois Legislature,” he said. “We believe the only way downstate communities can reasonably support this request for funding is with the inclusion of that funding plan to support downstate projects in Illinois.” With millions of dollars in funds for the QC route set to sunset in 2026, Mr. Tokar said the time is now for a project that conservative estimates suggest will generate $250 million in economic impact and create 850 jobs in the local region over the next 10 years. “As a representative of the Quad Cities business community we call on the state to invest everywhere in Illinois including in the Chicago to Moline direct rail connection,” he said. “The Chicago to Moline direct rail connection project has already brought economic impact to the Quad Cities via the station built in Moline and the amenities ready to serve that station.”

Community support needed

Ms. Rayapati and Mr. Halpin also urged the community to continue to support the project despite its many setbacks and years worth of efforts by local, state and federal leaders to make it happen. “I know that it’s been such a long time and I know that there are a lot of folk out there who may have somewhat given up hope, but these types of programs and visions take many many years to come to fruition and once it is done the Quad Cities community will be greater for it,” Mr. Halpin said. For example, Ms. Rayapati said, “We know that our communities are better off when families have solutions for employment where one partner can keep their job in the Quad Cities and the other might be able to commute to Chicago and other large metros and that’s what this project provides.” She added, “We know that our communities are better off when the educational institutions located here have multiple ways of getting students to and from their campuses, and when families from here have multiple ways of getting their students to other parts of the country for an education.” In addition, she said, “We know our communities are better off when visitors can come and go in multiple ways to experience all that the Quad Cities have to offer. And we know we are better off when we are not isolated from economic activity in the rest of the state or this region of the country. We need to keep making sure that isolation does not become our reality.”