Illinois still looking at Quad Cities - Danville train service

[Eric S]

Convoluted it may be but I'm a firm believer that "all's well that ends well" and the Metra-UP route is IMHO a definite improvement over the all-CN route. Not only will it use existing passenger-speed tracks Chicago-Elgin, use the existing Elgin station, and allow for Huntley and Belvidere stops as mentioned, it would allow the possibility of special stops for events at the Illinois Railway Museum adjoining the UP line.

I was always unclear why IDOT had ever given serious consideration (in contrast to listing it as an alternative in the study and then shooting it down) to the CN route. For the Quad Cities service, they analyzed an all-IAIS (nee RI) route alongside the BNSF-IAIS routing but IIRC never gave it serious weight in light of the obvious relative advantage of the BNSF routing.

I'm also a bit puzzled by the reference to $223 million in the linked press release when the other State press release gives a (IMHO more realistic) figure of $60 million. Of course, it also refers to serving DuPage county, where this line will pass through the northeast corner without stopping unless another now-Metra stop (say, Bensenville) is added. :wacko:

Agree that the Metra/UP line is the better choice. I could be mistaken, but I recall that the plan started on the Metra/UP line, as it had more support from on-line communities, then the IDOT study recommended going with the CN line and that was the assumption for the last couple years. Now we're back to the Metra/UP line. Although, in the press release you linked to (the $60 million press release) it refers to a "new station in South Elgin" - wasn't a South Elgin station part of the CN line plan? The $223 million press release refers to using the existing Elgin Metra station.

$60 million, $223 million, new South Elgin station, existing Elgin station - confusion continues I guess.

 

[7deuceman]

Yes, the article refers to the Elgin Metra - Milwaukee Road West Line as the Amtrak station in Elgin, IL. This will be a good place for potential Amtrak passengers living/working along the Milwaukee Road West Line to take a Metra train to connect at Elgin to/from Amtrak and Rockford. It also appears at first glance that the transfer point to the UP will be Genoa, IL where the old MILW (CN) crosses the UP in mid-town.

Hopefully this service will be the catalyst to expediting the expansion to Dubuque, IA.

 

[neroden]

I was always unclear why IDOT had ever given serious consideration (in contrast to listing it as an alternative in the study and then shooting it down) to the CN route.

Single dispatcher. If CN was passenger-friendly, it could have been a neat, straight shot. CN, unfortunately, is currently passenger-hostile, and they couldn't even get an agreement.
UP seems to have been fairly friendly this time. I'm not sure what the details of the agreement are. This is a fairly minor branch for UP. If Illinois was like Michigan or NY, they'd offer to buy or lease the line and have Metra dispatch it, but I'm not clear on what will actually happen.

The change from Metra to UP tracks will take place within Elgin. I'm not sure exactly where in Elgin. It says they're going to use the existing Metra Elgin station, so based on close inspection of the track routes, I'm guessing the connection will take place in the vicinity of Big Timber station, probably somewhat west of it, maybe somewhat east of it. In that area the UP line is running parallel to and south of the Metra line.

You can follow the UP line on Google Maps from Elgin to Huntley to the Illinois Railway Museum to Union and onward to Rockford.

 

[afigg]

Ok, so IL is making progress on the Quad Cities service, having reached an agreement with Iowa Interstate Railroad to begin design and plan execution of signal and track improvements. IL DOT is not stating a start of service date or timeframe, so maybe 2016? 2017? Ah, America, where we let the plans and funding for railroad track improvements age like fine wine.

Quad City Times: Chicago-to-Q-C rail link takes another step. Excerpt:

The state of Illinois said Monday it has reached a "key milestone" in developing the passenger rail connection between Chicago and the Quad-Cities, announcing an agreement with the Iowa Interstate Railroad to design construction work on its part of the 162-mile route.

The state said the agreement will allow the railroad to begin designing the signal system and plan execution of track and tie improvements to allow passenger trains on a 53-mile stretch of track between Wyanet, Ill. and Moline.

In addition, it said that construction would begin in September on another part of the connection, at the BNSF Railway's Eola Yards in Aurora, Ill.

"This agreement is another significant milestone in re-establishing passenger service between two great Illinois cities," acting Illinois Transportation Secretary Erica Borggren said in a statement.

PS. I may have put this update into the wrong thread. I did a search for recent threads with Quad Cities in the title and added the post to the end of this one. Perhaps we need a new Chicago to Quad Cities thread that does not have all the Iowa City and Iowa status stuff in it.