Fact Sheet CHICAGO to QUAD CITIES New Passenger Rail Service Under Study

Official IDOT fact sheet CHICAGO TO QUAD CITIES New Passenger Rail Service Under Study

In December 2011, U.S. Secretary Ray LaHood announced funding of over $177 million for passenger rail service between Chicago and the Quad Cities. The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) is pleased to announce the continuation of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) activities and preliminary engineering for a Corridor Expansion For additional information Program of Intercity Passenger Rail service from Chicago to the Quad Cities. regarding the Midwest Passenger Rail initiative or the Illinois The Chicago to Quad Cities Passenger Rail service is proposed to have two round High-Speed Rail project, trips per day (four passenger trains per day) from Chicago to the Quad Cities and please visit the ofﬁ cial websites: other intermediate locations including, La Grange, Naperville, Plano, Mendota and Princeton. New stations are proposed for Moline and Geneseo. The Chicago Visit www.connectthemidwest.com for Midwest to Quad Cities passenger rail service is a part of the Midwest Regional Rail Passenger Rail initiative information. Initiative (MWRRI), an initiative of nine Midwest states and Amtrak to establish an intercity passenger rail system in the Midwest. Chicago is the hub of the www.facebook.com/MidwestHighSpeedRail MWRRI and a series of high speed and conventional speed rail corridors will twitter.com/MWHighSpeedRail provide land based connectivity with the major Midwest population centers.

The Chicago – Quad Cities Corridor was an integral part of the U.S. passenger Visit www.idothsr.org for Illinois High-Speed Rail Chicago to rail network, and originally part of the Rock Island Railroad route network. St. Louis project information and business opportunities. Passenger service ceased between Chicago and the Quad Cities in 1978 and the www.facebook.com/IllinoisHighSpeedRail re-introduction of passenger rail to serve this part of Illinois is the key objective of this initiative. (continued on page 2)

Wisconsin

Lake Michigan

Iowa Chicago Naperville Quad Station Union Cities La Grange Station Station Geneseo Plano Station Station Mendota Moline Station Station Princeton Station Proposed Track Connection (Wyanet, IL)

LEGEND

Existing Amtrak Station BNSF Rail Road Illinois Proposed Amtrak Station IAIS Rail Road Public Participation

Stakeholder involvement will be a critical component throughout the Corridor Expansion Program. IDOT will be looking for focused and direct input from stakeholders. Stakeholder involvement opportunities include Public Meetings, a Public Hearing, newsletters, and a project website where stakeholders will have an opportunity to follow the project and provide input through a comment form. The ﬁ rst series of stakeholder events is tentatively planned for September and October 2012. Information regarding this project can be found at www.connectthemidwest.com.

Fall 2011 Summer 2013 Fall 2014 Fall 2015 Infrastructure Track Public Track NEPA Process Reconstruction Meetings Reconstruction Begins Begins Complete

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Spring 2012 Fall 2012 Fall 2013 Winter 2014 Fall 2015 Procurement Public Meetings Facilities NEPA Infrastructure Communication Process for New Process Complete Communication NEPA Process and Signal Train Sets Begins and Signal Work complete Work Complete Facilities NEPA Begins Process Begins

(continued from page 1) Next Generation Passenger Rail Equipment To get to this point, a Tier 1 Environmental Assessment (EA) was completed in September 2009 and an additional In May 2011, IDOT was awarded $268.2 million for the purchase of 48 high Supplement to the EA was completed in August 2010, performance rail cars and 7 quick accelerating locomotives. The new equipment will in compliance with NEPA and the Federal Railroad be used on 8 corridors in the midwest, including the Chicago to Quad Cities route. Administration’s (FRA) Procedures for Considering Environmental Impacts. The Illinois Department of The procurement process for the rail cars was initiated in March 2012 and is a joint Transportation and the Iowa Department of Transportation process with the State of California to provide standardization of rolling stock and worked jointly on this study. secure a better purchase price for the greater volume of equipment purchased. It is The EA evaluated the initial service of two round trips per anticipated a similar process will be used for the purchase of the locomotives. day and the full build out of ﬁ ve round trips per day. The study proposed a phased completion of this project with The new equipment will replace aging Amtrak cars and will accommodate projected Phase 1 consisting of two round trips per day between increase in ridership, improve operational reliability, reduce operating costs, and Chicago and Moline, Il. achieve a state a good repair. In November 2011 the FRA issued a Finding of No Signiﬁ cant Impact (FONSI).

Press and media related questions contact: IL Dept. of Transportation IL Dept. of Transportation Amtrak Josh Kauffman Guy Tridgell Marc Magliari (217) 558-0517 (312) 814-4693 (312) 880-5390 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Non-Press and non-media related questions contact: IL Dept. of Transportation Amtrak Miriam Gutierrez (312) 880-5231 (312) 793-4803 [email protected] [email protected]