Amtrak Quad Cities Proposal Chicago, Moline, Iowa City

Metra does almost no service out in the sticks - it's all done downtown on layover. That means a staged expansion shouldn't be that tough to figure out. All you need is a station, a siding, and a 480v plugin at the end of the route. When you extend westward, the station can remain. Given that there's likely a lot of yard space in Quad Cities, you can drop the heavy electrical connection and let the lease expire, and the siding goes back to IAIS use.

For an example of such, see Grand Rapids. There's no service done there. The PM drops passengers at the station and goes off to CSX to spend the night. In the morning, the process is reversed. If Amtrak wanted to expand northward (they don't) it wouldn't be a big deal because there's little to move. Also, if I remember right, the IZ has to cross the Miss into Missouri to spend the night at a BN yard.

In the case of the Quad Cities, there is the yard under Centennial Bridge, 30th street yard, the Arsenal, and NRE Silvis shops as potential layup spots. As you can see, IAIS stores their ex-MUCTC passenger train and steamers at a new facility in Silvis, which is just about as far from Moline downtown as Wyoming Yard is from Grand Rapids downtown. Silvis yard shot: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=moline&h ... s&t=h&z=18

I also agree that it's a shame this proposed train is having trouble reaching Iowa City, but I think the Quad Cities are a reasonable start. It's a large metro area that includes the world headquarters of John Deere and Kone Montgomery Elevator.

Tadman wrote:I also agree that it's a shame this proposed train is having trouble reaching Iowa City, but I think the Quad Cities are a reasonable start. It's a large metro area that includes the world headquarters of John Deere and Kone Montgomery Elevator.

As well as a former employer of mine. Not that I would have done the ALB-CHI-QUAD often, but it would have been nice to do it once or twice

skibum77 wrote:

jstolberg wrote: And thirdly, the financial case was based on trip generation from both Iowa City and the Quad Cities. Without the Hawkeyes, the train will be running mostly empty.

While the Quad Cities doesn't have a major college like most of the big Illinois station stops do, it is the biggest metro in the state outside of Chicago and St. Louis with around 400,000 people. You don't think there are enough people there to support service just on those merits? Don't get me wrong, going to Iowa City would only help (and maybe that would be the case for two a day vs. one a day), but if there's a case for Rockford & Dubuque service, the Quad Cities on their own should be able to support a train.

I also found the "mostly empty" forecast strange. If Quincy can support two trains a day, which are running anything but mostly empty, certainly the Quad Cities can.

For comparison, it's pretty rare to see an empty train leaving South Bend, a similar sized origination station on the South Shore and a stop for Amtrak. I've been on quite a few packed trains in/out of South Bend over the years, and those are high-density commuter cars, not 84-seat Amfleets.

Unrelated question - why did the coalition choose to renovate a building in Moline into the Quad Cities' station rather than reusing the extant CRIP depot in Rock Island? Is Moline that much larger of a city, was their decision driven by access to I-74, is the Rock Island depot in the wrong part of town to best serve passengers, or is there another reason?

mtuandrew wrote:Unrelated question - why did the coalition choose to renovate a building in Moline into the Quad Cities' station rather than reusing the extant CRIP depot in Rock Island? Is Moline that much larger of a city, was their decision driven by access to I-74, is the Rock Island depot in the wrong part of town to best serve passengers, or is there another reason?

Well, the CRIP station is now owned by private parties, and in use as a banquet facility; the building in Moline was available. Also, from the aerials at Bing, it looks like it would be easier to access the IAIS yard in Rock Island from the Moline facility (I'm assuming that's where the trains will be stored and serviced).

Also, given that Illinois is quite friendly to Amtrak while Iowa is indifferent, it's a nice way to throw the state a bone. CRIP had a Moline station at one time, too. Not sure if they're using it or another building.

mtuandrew wrote:Unrelated question - why did the coalition choose to renovate a building in Moline into the Quad Cities' station rather than reusing the extant CRIP depot in Rock Island? Is Moline that much larger of a city, was their decision driven by access to I-74, is the Rock Island depot in the wrong part of town to best serve passengers, or is there another reason?

The office building and parking garage will be connected to the Multi-Modal facility, Centre Station parking deck and the i wireless Centre through a series of skywalks.

http://qctimes.com/news/local/moline-ra ... 963f4.html

See the Moline bus map at http://www.gogreenmetro.com/maps-and-schedules/

To Mr. Aficionado's point, isn't the CRIP Abbey Station right at the IAIS yard? It is owned privately, but already has many of the amenities needed for reuse as a station. Also, most major Union Depots in the country are in use as banquet facilities when trains aren't expected - I don't see why that would preclude this one from use.

Thanks for the note on the parking facilities and convention facility though, Mr. Stolberg. Moline does seem to be a larger city than Rock Island at this point, and the station looks to be very convenient to just about everything. It makes sense that it'll be in Illinois too, with its major patrons being there and with fewer good station locations in Davenport.

jobtraklite wrote: I also found the "mostly empty" forecast strange. If Quincy can support two trains a day, which are running anything but mostly empty, certainly the Quad Cities can.

For reference, the initial feasibility studies done 2007/08 by Amtrak estimated that a 79 MPH service with two round trips per day would have 110,800 passengers per year with service to the Quad Cities and an incremental 76,100 if extended to Iowa City. Those numbers were assumed to scale up at a rate of approximately 3 percent per year to obtain the 2015 estimates. So, roughly speaking, they anticipated that 60% of the ridership would come from the shorter route. Some of the missing riders could be recouped by a connecting bus to Iowa City if necessary.

The great shame of Iowa's intransigence is that the additional service to Iowa City would basically be free from a marginal operating cost perspective, given that the trains are going to run anyway. Does anyone know what the official current status of the Iowa portion is? The Iowa Rail (state) website still lists it as funded, but doesn't mention the hold placed by the new governor.

mtuandrew wrote:To Mr. Aficionado's point, isn't the CRIP Abbey Station right at the IAIS yard? It is owned privately, but already has many of the amenities needed for reuse as a station. Also, most major Union Depots in the country are in use as banquet facilities when trains aren't expected - I don't see why that would preclude this one from use.

I'd love to see them use the CRIP Station, but they would have to make some sort of arrangement ($$) with the current owners. I'm not sure what the building is like inside now (if you want a shelter for passengers and, possibly, space for a ticket office). There is also, I guess, the question of whether the CRIP Station would be suitable for the sort of intermodal use planned at Moline.

As for location vis-a-vis the yard, the CRIP Station is really too close to the yard. From the aerials, it looks to my untrained eye that you would have to see-saw the train (maybe the tracks aren't that busy??) to access what I assume would be the servicing/storage area (near the old roundhouse site). In contrast, it would be a simple straight-on move to get there from the Moline building.

Speaking of the Moline building, the developer who was hired to pursue the non-transportation parts of the redevelopment has pulled out. When I find the news story again, I'll post it. As I recall, the state says this will not effect getting things ready for trains.
EDIT:Here it is:http://qctimes.com/business/new-develop ... f887a.html

It is back to the drawing board for plans to renovate parts of the O’Rourke Building, the downtown Moline structure that will become home to the Quad-Cities’ new passenger rail station.

The multi-modal facility, which is a public-private partnership between the city of Moline, Renew Moline and MetroLINK, lost the developer for the private portion of the building last month when Restoration St. Louis withdrew from the project.

What is the status of this project? Has all the funding been secured? Is the route decided and the design work done? Is any construction underway? Is there an expected start of service date?

quincunx wrote:What is the status of this project? Has all the funding been secured? Is the route decided and the design work done? Is any construction underway? Is there an expected start of service date?

I'm not sure that all funding has been secured, but this rail project received $230 million in funding last October (2013). I'm thinking that should be enough to start running trains by 2016 - assuming they ever finish planning. It appears deciding where the terminating station should be in the Quad Cities keeps changing. Let's hope they complete the planning stage and start constructing whatever improvements are needed soon.

electricron wrote:

quincunx wrote:What is the status of this project? Has all the funding been secured? Is the route decided and the design work done? Is any construction underway? Is there an expected start of service date?

I'm not sure that all funding has been secured, but this rail project received $230 million in funding last October (2013). I'm thinking that should be enough to start running trains by 2016 - assuming they ever finish planning. It appears deciding where the terminating station should be in the Quad Cities keeps changing. Let's hope they complete the planning stage and start constructing whatever improvements are needed soon.

Some corrections. IL received $177.3 million which was parceled off from the FY2010 $230 million grant in 2012 for its portion of the route. The remainder has been held for Iowa while Iowa studies the route and the Iowa state legislature stalls on providing any state matching funds. IIRC, the $177.3 million covers track upgrades in IL, station costs, and 2 trainsets of corridor bi-level cars.

A google search turns up a fresh news report on the project: Work starting this summer on Q-C rail link. First paragraph: "DAVENPORT -- Construction on the passenger rail line that will link Moline and Chicago is expected to begin this summer, with service slated to start in late 2015." The service was supposed to start in 2013, then in 2014. Would not bet any money on late 2015, but maybe they will.

The last report I read about Iowa is that the estimated costs have risen on the track upgrades to Iowa City which means the state would have to provide more funding which the Iowa House just won't go for, so the extension to Iowa City is likely dead (for the present). If Iowa says no, lots of projects in other states to re-allocate the remaining $52.8 million to.

^Thanks

Way to get on it!

The commission identified the rail line as a priority project in 1994.