Passenger Trains > Amtrak to Rockford

With a new Republican governor in Illinois, what is the fate of the train to Rockford? And the high speed project to St Louis.

bluesboyst Wrote:
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> With a new Republican governor in Illinois, what
> is the fate of the train to Rockford? And the
> high speed project to St Louis.

St. Louis is being paid by Fed Bucks as is Quad Cities. Also, equipment for them is in fabrication.

Rockford/Dubuque, I forget who was paying for the track upgrades, but I had thought the final routing chosen (wasn't it MILW to Elgin?) didn't really involve that much. Again, the equipment is part of the Fed Bucks purchase.

The ongoing operating assistance will be a small pittance rolled into the bigger overall annual payment and when connecting revenue, additional ridership development, and economies of scale are considered probably won't be very much at all.

At least he didn't run on a "stop the train" platform and refuse the money, like someone to our north.

Yet.

Carl Shaver
Lombard, IL

Since it directly affects a good amount of the consulting engineering work my firm does, we've been watching what the new gov does. So far, the Illiana Expressway and the Peotone Airport have been canceled. The Tollway's next phase of the I-90 reconstruction is to move forward. I have not read anything regarding any of the rail projects mentioned above.

Well hopefully he's a smart Republican, not like the one one state north who had the Talgo sets sit at the assembly plant for who knows how long!

Everyone forgets, these are different situations, up north Republicans control all the branches of the government. So Walker could advance his agenda. In Illinois, the legislature is still Democrat control. So I doubt anything will change in Illinois.

bretton88 Wrote:
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> Everyone forgets, these are different situations,
> up north Republicans control all the branches of
> the government. So Walker could advance his
> agenda. In Illinois, the legislature is still
> Democrat control. So I doubt anything will change
> in Illinois.

Right! I just hope to heck everything stays the same in Illinois!!!

What a thread!!!!

Bob

I wouldn't bet on it. Pink slips were handed out today at IDOT....

bretton88 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Everyone forgets, these are different situations,
> up north Republicans control all the branches of
> the government. So Walker could advance his
> agenda. In Illinois, the legislature is still
> Democrat control. So I doubt anything will change
> in Illinois.