Bustos, Durbin, Duckworth secure fed Amtrak funds for Quad Cities

Feds agree to multiyear extension to renew Chicago-Moline service

The Moline Amtrak station is expected to go just down the line from the John Deere Pavilion. (One Illinois/Ted Cox)

By Ted Cox

The state’s U.S. senators and a Quad Cities congresswoman have secured a multiyear extension of federal funding to renew Amtrak service between Chicago and Moline.

The $177 million in federal funding was initially allotted under the Obama administration in 2011 with the support of U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin. But it was jeopardized by former Gov. Bruce Rauner’s spending freeze on the project. Led by Durbin and U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth and U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos of Moline, the Illinois congressional delegation won several extensions, most recently in June when the Federal Railroad Administration granted until the end of November to get a deal done. Duckworth worried over the summer that the Trump administration might attempt to “claw back” the funding.

Yet the U.S. Department of Transportation announced Friday that it had extended the funding until the end of 2024, spurred in part by the $225 million for the project included by Gov. Pritzker in the $45 billion Rebuild Illinois capital plan passed earlier this year by the General Assembly.

Renewal of the Amtrak service formally known as the Quad Cities Rocket has been complicated by seemingly endless negotiations between the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Iowa Interstate Railroad, which owns the tracks for the last stretch of the run extending from Princeton. But the multiyear extension should grant ample time to get a deal done and the service up and running.

Bustos said she expected it to generate economic development in the Quad Cities.

“The completion of a rail line from Moline to Chicago would help grow the local economy, create jobs, and connect folks from across our state with new opportunities,” Bustos said, adding that it “will allow for our region to take the next steps forward to prepare for this crucial project.”

Durbin said it “gives local communities in the Quad Cities the certainty needed to plan ahead for the new passenger rail service. After years of unnecessary delay, Sen. Duckworth, Rep. Bustos, and I have pushed hard to make Amtrak in the Quad Cities a reality. The future of this critical Illinois transportation project looks bright.”

Duckworth called it “a critical component of Illinois’s dynamic transportation system” and said the federal funding extension “is an important step toward making it a reality.”

Acting Illinois Transportation Secretary Omer Osman said the $225 million state investment through the Rebuild Illinois capital plan was key. “Thanks to the governor’s vision, the support of the General Assembly and the work of the state’s congressional delegation, the historic Rebuild Illinois capital program is making an historic investment in transportation across all modes in Illinois,” he said. “Under the leadership of Gov. Pritzker, we stand ready to deliver this critical project and many others like it that will create economic opportunity and enhance quality of life throughout our state.”

Amtrak service between Chicago and Moline was severed at the end of 1978. But a 2008 feasibility study estimated that 110,000 people a year would ride the line if service were restored.