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THE STATUS of PASSENGER RAIL IMPROVEMENTS in the REGION Illinois – Todd Popish and PLANS for the FUTURE

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THE STATUS of PASSENGER RAIL IMPROVEMENTS in the REGION Illinois – Todd Popish and PLANS for the FUTURE Illinois – Todd Popish THE STATUS OF Indiana – Kristin Brier PASSENGER RAIL IMPROVEMENTS IN Kansas – John Maddox THE REGION Michigan – Rob Lippert AND PLANS FOR THE Minnesota – Dan Krom FUTURE Missouri – Bryan Ross STATE REPORTS North Dakota – Rebecca Geyer Wisconsin – Arun Rao Equipment Update – Jennifer Bastian MIPRC 2020 Annual Meeting │ November 10-11 THE STATUS OF PASSENGER RAIL IMPROVEMENTS IN THE REGION Illinois – Todd Popish AND PLANS FOR THE FUTURE STATE REPORTS MIPRC 2020 Annual Meeting │ November 10-11 Illinois DOT Update Todd Popish Intermodal Project Implementation 3 Normal Passenger Rail in Illinois • Amtrak operates 56 daily trains in and through Illinois. • Amtrak serves nearly 5 million riders at Illinois stations. • Illinois subsidizes 30 state- sponsored trains that provide service in 4 regional corridors, with 2 million annual riders. 4 Normal Amtrak Illinois Corridors Chicago - St. Louis Lincoln Service • 4 daily round trips Chicago – Quincy IL Zephyr/Carl Sandburg • 2 daily round trips Chicago – Carbondale Illini/Saluki • 2 daily round trips Chicago – Milwaukee Hiawatha Service (jointly supported with WisDOT) • 7 daily round trips (6 on Sundays) 5 Amtrak Operations – COVID-19 Service Levels Working with Amtrak, we swiftly reacted to COVID-19, adjusting service levels to be commensurate with demand, abiding by all Amtrak safety protocols and addressing COVID-19 impacts to stations and services in real time throughout this year. On 3/21/20, we reduced our 3 Downstate corridors to a half level of service. 1 daily round trip on Chicago-Quincy “IL Zephyr” (from 2 RT) 1 daily round trip on Chicago-Carbondale “Illini/Saluki” (from 2 RT) 2 daily round trips on Chicago-St. Louis “Lincoln Service” (from 4 RT). Working with WisDOT, our funding partner for the Chicago-Milwaukee “Hiawatha Service”, we temporarily replaced train service with corridor length bussing and then restored various levels of train service throughout April-June. Currently sit at roughly half service, 4 daily round trips (from 7 RT). Our services are currently cashless to protect both customers and onboard employees, we have instituted reservations on all corridors to ensure social distancing can be ensured onboard, adjusted train length for demand, and reduced some food offerings to reduce spoilage. 6 Amtrak Operations – CARES Act The CARES Act was extremely beneficial to helping us navigate through the dire financial impacts of COVID-19, as even half levels of intercity service are quite expensive with ridership and revenue declines remaining in the 70-90% range, depending on the corridor. CARES Act funding allowed us to maintain a basic level of service in Illinois and saved IDOT several million dollars in May and June to close out our fiscal year, and is expected to save us roughly $8.5M for the first six months of State Fiscal Year 2021, at which point the CARES Act relief funding will run out. 7 Amtrak Operations – Current Funding IDOT still expects it will need to utilize most of its annual state appropriation to pay for our train operations, and that is with an expectation of not returning to full service until April 1, which will be evaluated further as we near that date. 8 Amtrak Operations – Future Funding We are supportive of additional financial assistance from Congress for Amtrak, including state-supported and long- distance business lines’ recovery funding. Starting Oct 1, with Amtrak reducing long distance service to 3 days a week, our State now has even less rail travel options for our residents, which also means less long-distance riders connecting to our regional intercity trains. We also recognize that some of our peer state-supported services around the nation will struggle to keep even basic levels of service running through the end of this fiscal year. For IDOT, having no further federal support may hinder our ability to bring back full-service levels sooner and be able to sustain those levels of service if ridership and revenue do not recover quickly as we advance through FY21 and into FY22. 9 Chicago to St. Louis High Speed Rail Project IDOT continues to work with our partners (Federal Railroad Administration, Union Pacific Railroad, Amtrak) on the implementation of 90 mph service on the Chicago to St. Louis corridor. 10 ‘Rebuild Illinois’ Capital Plan $45B capital plan for infrastructure, state facilities, education, and environmental projects Passed by IL General Assembly and signed into law by Gov. Pritzker on 6/28/19 Rail highlights: Additional $225M to complete Chicago-Quad Cities service expansion project $275M to reinitiate Chicago-Rockford service expansion project $100M for Chicago-Carbondale corridor improvements $122M for Springfield 10th St Improvement project $400M for the Chicago CREATE program 11 Chicago to Quad Cities Passenger Rail Service Work on preliminary engineering and environmental compliance continues in conjunction with our partners on the project, namely the Federal Railroad Administration and the Iowa Interstate Railroad. Additionally, IDOT is in negotiations with the Iowa Interstate Railroad on construction and maintenance agreements needed to proceed with the project. Once those agreements have been reached and preliminary engineering is completed, we will move into final design and then construction. Until that occurs we are not able to give a timeline for completion of the project and initiation of service. 12 Chicago to Rockford Passenger Rail Service Prime Consultant WSP USA is under contract and has begun outreach to host railroads Metra and Union Pacific Railroad to determine the improvements required to bring passenger rail service back to Rockford. The steps that need to be completed prior to the implementation of service include completion of preliminary engineering and environmental compliance, final design and construction. Additionally, IDOT will need to reach agreement with Union Pacific and Metra on construction and maintenance. Until preliminary engineering is completed we are not able to give a timeline as to when service will begin. 13 Chicago to Carbondale Improvements Prime Consultant Quandel Consultants, Inc. is under contract. The proposed improvements would increase capacity and flow on the corridor with the goal of improving on time performance for our state supported trains (Illini and Saluki). While specific details on the improvements will need to be agreed to by IDOT and the CN railroad (the host railroad on the corridor), they will likely include sidings and sections of second track in areas where trains frequently meet, causing delays. 14 Chicago Terminal Study • FRA grant to Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT), Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT), and Metra • Study will yield recommendations for: improved intercity passenger rail service in the Midwest; long-distance Amtrak trains; and planned expansion of Metra rail service • Study will supplement rail planning efforts: • Chicago/Joliet corridor • CREATE program • Chicago Union Station (CUS) Master Planning Study 15 Thank you! 16 THE STATUS OF PASSENGER RAIL IMPROVEMENTS IN THE REGION Indiana – Kristin Brier AND PLANS FOR THE FUTURE STATE REPORTS MIPRC 2020 Annual Meeting │ November 10-11 MIPRC– Indiana Update Kristin Brier, Multimodal Director Indiana Department of Transportation November 10, 2020 Indiana State Rail Plan 19 N. IN Commuter Transportation District (NICTD) • Board of Directors is chaired by INDOT Commissioner • Receives $18 million from Commuter Rail Fund and $5 million from Public Mass Transit Fund • Two expansion projects underway: Double Track NWI and West Lake Extension 21 South Shore – Double Track NWI • Double tracking between Gary and Michigan City • FTA approval to enter engineering 2/2020, expect construction to start 5/2021 South Shore - West Lake Extension • Extends service from between Dyer and Hammond, including 4 new stations. • $354.6 million grant agreement with FTA – October 2020 • Virtual Groundbreaking Ceremony – October 27, 2020 23 Regional Collaboration Lead stakeholder in FRA’s Midwest Regional Rail Planning Study Supported two successful CRISI grant applications submitted by Ohio Rail Development Commission 24 Local Trax Update • Goal: eliminate railroad crossings, increase commuter safety, and improve fluidity in Indiana communities • 12 projects awarded $121 million in state funds ($157.5 million total project cost) • Jason Holder, Program Manager – [email protected] 25 Amtrak in Indiana • Cardinal services provide thrice-weekly service between Indianapolis to Chicago with stops in Crawfordsville, Lafayette, Rensselaer and Dyer • Amtrak’s long distance services, Lake Shore Limited and Capitol Limited, have stops in Waterloo, Elkhart and South Bend • The Wolverine, Michigan’s state service has stops in Michigan City and Hammond Thank you! Kristin Brier Multimodal Director, [email protected] Venetta Keefe Rail Programs Office Manager, [email protected] 27 THE STATUS OF PASSENGER RAIL IMPROVEMENTS IN THE REGION Kansas – John Maddox AND PLANS FOR THE FUTURE STATE REPORTS MIPRC 2020 Annual Meeting │ November 10-11 Kansas Passenger Rail Update November 10 and 11, 2020 Kansas Passenger Rail Initiatives • Tiger 9 • All agreements in place • Budget = $25,000,000 • Lead Agency – Colfax County, New Mexico • Partners – Colfax County, NMDOT, CDOT, KDOT, Amtrak, BNSF, Amtrak, Local Communities and Passenger Rail Commissions • Project components in Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico • Project Location: Dodge City, KS to Albuquerque,
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