Illinois Amtrak Service

[gokeefe]

Ah. Thank you! I believe I was ...

[bretton88]

Two delays ... One because they had to dump the CN (?) route and the other because the Governor's office held the project up during a budget crisis. Changing host railroads (or not getting it right on the first attempt) is probably the source of most of the lost time.

The Black Hawk isn't even close to getting going. CN is the only route past Rockford and they flat out refuse to cooperate.

[mtuandrew]

Two delays ... One because they had to dump the CN (?) route and the other because the Governor's office held the project up during a budget crisis. Changing host railroads (or not getting it right on the first attempt) is probably the source of most of the lost time.

The Black Hawk isn't even close to getting going. CN is the only route past Rockford and they flat out refuse to cooperate.

Right, short of detouring on the CP/MILW or BNSF/CBQ via Savanna or, like, rebuilding the CGW

CN has been singularly unhelpful to passenger railroading in Illinois.

[CHTT1]

Hopefully, we'll eventually get some sort of multi-train service to Rockford. West of that is probably impossible until CN completely changes its corporate attitude.

[eolesen]

Hopefully, we'll eventually get some sort of multi-train service to Rockford. West of that is probably impossible until CN completely changes its corporate attitude.

Metra?.... Rockford isn't that much further than Harvard time-wise, and there's single-carrier access via the UP.

[CHTT1]

Winnebago County is not part of the Northeast Illinois RTA so the county would have to be annexed to the RTA and the subsequent taxes imposed.That might be a harder sell than a state-supported train.

[eolesen]

There has to be a better way to expand Metra than requiring annexation into the RTA service area. There's a clear need for service into the exurbs in Kendall, Boone, and Winnebago County, and running it as Amtrak vs. an extension of existing commuter services really makes no sense.

[Tadman]

Yeah, the 110 demo stretch was downgraded to 79 over a year ago I think. So far, this project has been all hype.

Couldn't have said it better. The Michigan corridor as well has been a huge disappointment this year, so it's no surprise the Illinois corridor is the same. Rumor has it the state of Michigan is furious with Amtrak for their inability to get anything right. Meanwhile I've switched all my rides into the city to South Shore.

[Anthony]

There has to be a better way to expand Metra than requiring annexation into the RTA service area. There's a clear need for service into the exurbs in Kendall, Boone, and Winnebago County, and running it as Amtrak vs. an extension of existing commuter services really makes no sense.

As an alternative to being annexed to the Northeast Illinois RTA, Boone & Winnebago Counties could instead form their own RTA. The Rockford Mass Transit District (RMTD) has legal authority to do so. Voters would still need to approve a small sales tax (about 1/4 of 1%) to fund the RTA. However, voters in this region have a history of approving even larger sales tax percentages for other projects than what would be required by a Rockford area RTA.

[mtuandrew]

As an alternative to being annexed to the Northeast Illinois RTA, Boone & Winnebago Counties could instead form their own RTA. The Rockford Mass Transit District (RMTD) has legal authority to do so. Voters would still need to approve a small sales tax (about 1/4 of 1%) to fund the RTA. However, voters in this region have a history of approving even larger sales tax percentages for other projects than what would be required by a Rockford area RTA.

Is there a mechanism for RMTD’s hypothetical RTA to purchase service from Metra (that is, would the Northeast Illinois RTA even be able to accept their money?)

[CHTT1]

I'm not an attorney, so I don't know of any reason why Metra couldn't contract with Winnebago and Boone counties to operate the service. There's no other place that Metra operates outside the six county area except for Kenosha, WI.
I've always wondered about the Kenosha service. I know originally C&NW picked up the cost of the service between the state line and Kenosha because they didn't want to mess with the crew base, but I don't know about the current situation. Does Wisconsin kick in some cash for the service (doubtful given Wisconsin's generally hands-off approach to commuter rail) or does Kenosha or Kenosha County pay for it? I can't imagine UP is contributing. Or are Illinois taxpayers subsidizing the cheeseheads? Does anyone know?

[electricron]

I'm not an attorney, so I don't know of any reason why Metra couldn't contract with Winnebago and Boone counties to operate the service. There's no other place that Metra operates outside the six county area except for Kenosha, WI.
I've always wondered about the Kenosha service. I know originally C&NW picked up the cost of the service between the state line and Kenosha because they didn't want to mess with the crew base, but I don't know about the current situation. Does Wisconsin kick in some cash for the service (doubtful given Wisconsin's generally hands-off approach to commuter rail) or does Kenosha or Kenosha County pay for it? I can't imagine UP is contributing. Or are Illinois taxpayers subsidizing the cheeseheads? Does anyone know?

I believe this link explains why Metra trains run into Wisconsin without additional subsidies from Wisconsin.
http://subwaynut.com/chicago/metra/unio ... h/kenosha/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[doepack]

I'm not an attorney, so I don't know of any reason why Metra couldn't contract with Winnebago and Boone counties to operate the service. There's no other place that Metra operates outside the six county area except for Kenosha, WI.
I've always wondered about the Kenosha service. I know originally C&NW picked up the cost of the service between the state line and Kenosha because they didn't want to mess with the crew base, but I don't know about the current situation. Does Wisconsin kick in some cash for the service (doubtful given Wisconsin's generally hands-off approach to commuter rail) or does Kenosha or Kenosha County pay for it? I can't imagine UP is contributing. Or are Illinois taxpayers subsidizing the cheeseheads? Does anyone know?

The explanation I got was that, as part of the purchase of service agreement, UP bills Metra for the cost of maintenance and overnight storage of consists in Kenosha. Among the conditions provided is that Metra has budgeted for a maximum of four sets, and is why the last nightly train leaving downtown at 12:35 deadheads back to Waukegan after terminating its run in Kenosha.

Station maintenance in Kenosha, plus revenue miles for all Metra traffic between Kenosha and Winthrop Harbor also figures into the subsidy, but it's unclear exactly how UP calculates this, as well as other miscellaneous expenses related to the extra territorial running...

[Matt Johnson]

https://www.stltoday.com/business/local ... eeffe.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

"The Amtrak passenger service at speeds of up to 90 mph (145 kph) should begin in the summer, The State Journal-Register reported."

Two more days until it's officially fall, and I think we're still stuck at 79 mph!

[Rockingham Racer]

A disaster from get-go IMO. UP likes it though, I'll wager.