Amtrak’s feasibility study of a proposed Chicago-Iowa City passenger rail service is Iowa’s most realistic chance for additional rail service since the national passenger rail corporation was created by Congress in 1971.
The study released Friday lays out an estimate of $32.5 million for start-up capital costs, mostly for improvements to the Iowa Interstate Railroad’s track between Davenport and Iowa City. But Amtrak estimates the annual operating susbsidy at just $100,000 to $300,000, depending on which route is chosen for the Chicago-Quad Cities leg.
In state budget terms, that’s virtually a rounding error. Assuming the state and the Iowa Interstate can reach a deal on start-up costs, and the states of Illinois and Iowa can agree on their share of responsibility for the Chicago-Quad Cities leg, there may finally be cause for optimism for an alternative to a dreary I-80 trek.
Amtrak’s report includes proposed schedules for several alternative routings and levels of investment (and resulting higher operating speeds). My favorite has Iowa City departures at 7:30 a.m. and 5:35 p.m. and Chicago departures at 9:22 a.m. and 6:35 p.m., with running times of about six hours. It offers a tantalizing future of easy weekend trips to Cubs games, the Art Institute, or the blues fest - not to mention Union Station connections to the east.
It would also be back to the future. The Iowa Interstate operates over what was until its 1980 demise the Rock Island route. In the pre-Amtrak heyday when the railroads bragged about their passenger trains, the Rock Island dubbed its top trains the Fleet of the Rockets. In 1961, Iowa City had three daily trains each way on the Rock Island, including the Chicago-Denver Rocky Mountain Rocket and the Des Moines-Chicago Corn Belt Rocket, with about a five-hour travel time to and from Chicago. According to the 1961 timetable, in addition to coaches both Rockets carried sleeping cars (“Chicago to Des Moines, 6 sections, 6 roomettes, 4 double bedrooms. Available for occupancy at Chicago 9:30 p.m. May be occupied until 8 a.m.”) The eastbound Corn Belt Rocket had a parlor car, and the Rocky Mountain Rocket promised a Buffet Lounge Parlor Car, Dining Car, and a Club Lounge Car.
Amtrak doesn’t have parlor cars, and the proposed new service wouldn’t be long enough to justify a diner or a sleeper. But food service would be offered, according to the Amtrak study.
And wouldn’t it be cool if Amtrak, which often adopts historic names for its services, revived the Corn Belt Rocket?
1 Comment
April 20, 2008 at 10:10 pm
[...] unknown wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptThe study released Friday lays out an estimate of $32.5 million for start-up capital costs, mostly for improvements to the Iowa Interstate Railroad’s track between Davenport and Iowa City. But Amtrak estimates the annual operating … [...]