Amtrak Quad Cities Proposal Chicago, Moline, Iowa City

CarterB wrote:The study mentions only a station/end point of Moline. (1200 River Drive?? MetroLink? )

Not sure how anxious the folks in Bettendorf and Davenport will be to drive to Moline to catch a train. If they really plan to use this as the 'springboard' on to Iowa City and Des Moines, I wonder why not at least consider temp end point of Davenport?

My guess is that Illinois politicians would not be thrilled to use state money to create jobs in IOWA. Secondly even is they barely cross into another state the project will need to involve another state...better to keep it simple. Thirdly, since Illinois is paying for this the first preference is to make the service convenient for Illinois citizens

REALITY CHECK:

There is what looks to be a low-level pivot-center span across the Mississippi coming out of Rock Island. Google Maps shows it pretty beat up, and single-track.

There is also a bridge which crosses Arsenal Island at the locks and just east of the dam. When I was stationed at Rock Island Arsenal, I never saw traffic on those rails. This bridge, again from Google maps, appears to be single-track.

I've never been as far as the bridge 2 miles above Campbell's Island. I can't tell you if it's road or rail.

If anyone has a current condition report vis a vis those bridges, please post.

So... how much rail traffic crosses the Mississippi at the Quad Cities anyway?

http://www.iaisrr.com/sites/iaisrr.com/ ... 20Copy.pdf

(Moderator's Edit: Sorry, folks, you're just going to have to copy and paste the url above into your browser)

Look here to see the current status of the IAIS.....The bridge is continuously manned so getting across the river should be no big deal. Not going across is a choice. Also notice how some of the track that would be used for the train currently has permanent slow orders as low as 10mph

EDIT: it appears that the crossing is controlled by BNSF, and that much or all of it is 10mph, so crossing would be a time consuming headache. Are there any locals around here who know??

The IAIS uses Government Bridge across Arsenal Island, owned by the US Army Corps of Engineers, not the BNSF bridge.

http://www.visi.com/~jweeks/upper_missi ... ssB06.html

Presumably any upgrades that would be necessary to increase speeds between Rock Island and Davenport will be part of the companion Iowa feasibility study that is currently being conducted.

IAIS does indeed use the Government Bridge across Arsenal Island, which is maintained by the Army Corps.

The Rock Island station in Rock Island (Illinois side of the river) has been restored by a local restaurant and is used for special functions (weddings etc). The platform is intact, and trains could easily stop there without entering the benighted State of Iowa.

As for timings, my March 1956 Official Guide offers the following:

"Rocky Mountain Rocket" 2:48 Chicago to RI
"Des Moines Rocket" 3:15
"Golden State" 3:05

All trains were scheduled for time (5 to 7 minutes) in Rock Island, presumably for a crew change. Running time to Davenport over the Government Bridge was seven to eight minutes.

The Rock Island station in Davenport no longer exists. Davenport Union Station is on the "DRI Line", which runs along the riverbank. There is no connection to the IAIS or the Government Bridge.

The "Crescent Bridge" owned by BNSF crosses downstream, and has a wye to the former DRI Line (now IC&E), so trains *could* use that bridge and the wye and terminate at Davenport Union Station, but it would be a round-about route, and also slow.

Managed to get the link to the employee timetable to work, and IAIS has a 10 MPH restriction through yard limits in Rock Island. Government Bridge appears to have a head-end-only restriction to 25 mph.

The 10 MPH restriction could be lifted by providing signaling through the yard, or simply by a rule change. The bridge looks to be in good condition.

Given the most feasible route BNSF IAIS at the 79mph scenario, and the am train leaving Moline @8:40, what was/is the Iowa portion of the study contemplating as to schedules/times from Des Moines and Iowa City?

I really can't see this as practical on a Moline-Chicago basis alone, with really no population centers in between, but if Iowa is included, perhaps.

The Iowa portion isn't available yet, but it is about 50 miles by rail from Moline to Iowa City and then another 115 miles to Des Moines. You should be able to do Moline - Iowa City in less than 90 minutes, so it wouldn't be to difficult to extend the proposed schedules without requiring extra equipment.

I think Iowa City will happen, but I wouldn't hold my breath on Des Moines. That being said, I do think service to the Quad Cities alone would be viable in a political sense, in that it would have enough patronage to sustain the necessary subsidy from the state government.

CarterB wrote:Given the most feasible route BNSF IAIS at the 79mph scenario, and the am train leaving Moline @8:40, what was/is the Iowa portion of the study contemplating as to schedules/times from Des Moines and Iowa City?

I really can't see this as practical on a Moline-Chicago basis alone, with really no population centers in between, but if Iowa is included, perhaps.

I agree with mkellerm that with Rock Island/Moline alone, this is at least as viable as the Quincy and Carbondale trains that Illinois already supports. Gas prices are a wildcard, but assuming that gas remains at an inflation-adjusted rate near $3/gallon, I'd assume that patronage could rise above the levels stated, and/or tickets could be priced higher than $19, so it may not end up needing the entire subsidy mentioned in the report.

Keep in mind that no, most people will not cross the bridge from Davenport and Bettendorf and park in Moline. That's not really the Amtrak model for the most part. Instead, you're talking about people getting Mom or a friend to drop them off at the station. By that standard, Moline isn't that different from having the station on the wrong side of Davenport. QC Iowans will use this train in decent numbers.

http://www.dot.state.ia.us/railplan/section2.htm

Some interesting if old studies in the link above. They include a projection that the chi-quad cities route would carry 600,000 passengers a year and that redoing the IAIS route trough the state would cost $200 million.

BTW-have any of the state leaders told anyone that they would be willing to pay for passenger service? I ask because they have never had to pay for amtrak.

If Businessweek is right, you could see a lot of traffic from Chicago to the Quad Cities:

An Amtrak report released this week gives casino operators in Illinois plenty of reason to smile, concluding that a proposed passenger-train route between Chicago and the Quad Cities could carry 111,000 riders a year. Many of those riders could be Chicago gamblers heading to casinos along the Mississippi River

Read it here.

Uhhh....

Who is going to pay for the upgrades of IAIS from permanent 10MPH slow order to 79MPH trackage?????????????????

If this project was accomplished, what would prevent Amtrak from running the Zephyr to Omaha via Des Moine and Iowa City.

Iowa City is logical destination for this service; look at the ridership numbers from the Illinois university towns served by other trains.

However, getting two states to agree to this project is much more difficult than a single state. It makes sense to start with a Moline run and then explore expanding it. This is a case of not letting the perfect get in the way of the good.

Hopefully nothing, Mr. 1617 JFK Blvd; Iowa City and Des Moines are certainly more lucrative traffic sources than Mt. Pleasant and Osceola. But as Col. Perkowski notes, much work is needed to get the Rock Island "into shape" for handling a passenger train even at 60mph.

Take that from one who, when visiting friends in Amana, stays at a Holiday Inn in Coralville that has "rooms with a view'; when IAIS freights pass, it is definitely 'rockin, rollin, riding".

I am at a complete loss how anyone at Amtrak thought they were going to run the 'Des Moines Mixto" over that existing ROW as part of the Warrington-era Network Growth Strategy. Oh well, just one of many charades played out at 60 Mass during those days.

Mr Norman...

They looked at one too many pix of Lucius Beebe in Mixed Train Daily.