This story is part of the QCBJ’s annual Newsmakers edition. This year-end wrap-up by the Quad Cities Regional Business Journal’s staff includes some of the biggest stories we brought you during 2024. Each story also includes an update on the subject. Excerpts from the original stories as well as the new updates appeared in print in our Monday, Dec. 23 edition.
The initial story was published in April of 2024.
Passenger rail service remains a priority for the Quad Cities and remains part of the 2050 Quad Cites Region Transportation Plan, Bi-State Regional Commission Executive Director Denise Bulat told the QCBJ last month.
Bi-State supports passenger rail, she said, as do elected officials on both sides of the river. Moline has taken the lead and is working closely with the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), Ms. Bulat said, adding there has been progress.
That includes completing “the work necessary with the BNSF railroad for this service,” she said. IDOT also is “working with the Iowa Interstate Railroad, along with Amtrak and the Federal Railroad Administration, to detail the scope and phases of work that are required.”
Once those details are agreed upon, Ms. Bulat said, IDOT will be able to move forward with preliminary engineering, “including detailing what is necessary to complete the connection between the BNSF and Iowa Interstate tracks at Wyanet (Illinois),” she said.
At the same time, Moline City Administrator Bob Vitas said, the Illinois High Speed Rail Commission on which he serves continues to meet monthly with Quandel Consultants about a potential high-speed rail line linking St. Louis and Chicago.
Quandel is working to prepare for community engagement after the first of the year. “This will be a statewide effort to gather input from all interested parties,” Mr. Vitas said. Quandel will use that input to prepare its St. Louis to Chicago high-speed line recommendations.
“As for the route between Moline and Chicago, like the routes between Rockford and Peoria, those are required in the legislation as primary feeder routes to Chicago,” Mr. Vitas said.
“In the end, there will likely be additional connections as of yet to be determined in the commission’s final recommendation at the end of 2025. The key to the feeder routes is to build passenger capacity around the State of Illinois. Ridership demand will drive decisions,” he said.
