NORMAL – At the dedication of Uptown Station in July, Tom Carper, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Amtrak, told the audience gathered for the ceremony high speed rail would not just allow passengers to get from Chicago to St. Louis at 110 miles per hour, but also to other parts of the Midwest, like Dearborn, Mich., too.
At one point on a test run from Joliet to Normal on Oct. 19, the train carrying dignitaries such as Gov. Pat Quinn; U. S. Sen. Dick Durbin; Federal Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood; Illinois Department of Transportation Secretary Ann L. Schneider; and Normal Mayor Chris Koos, clocked a top speed of 111 miles per hour as it cruised the tracks between Dwight and Pontiac.
As a result, the train, scheduled to pull into Uptown Station between 12:30p.m. and 12:45p.m., made its debut nearly a full 20 minutes ahead of that time frame, surprising both onlookers and media gathered for the event.
It will be around Thanksgiving when rail passengers will get the opportunity to experience such a quick trip for themselves, according to IDOT. At a news conference upon their arrival at Uptown Station, lawmakers advanced the positives of future travelers using high speed rail.
“We made history today,” Quinn told the roughly 40 people gathered for the press conference that followed their arrival. “We’ve taken a great train trip to Normal, Illinois. Along the way, we went more than 110 miles per hour.” Quinn emphasized the 111 mph was the fastest speed for a train traveling outside of Amtrak’s Northeast Corridor, which includes service to cities like Boston, Montreal; New Haven, Conn. and Portland, Me. in the east; To Atlanta, New Orleans, and Orlando in the south; And as it heads west to Harrisburg, Pa.; Cincinnati; Indianapolis; and Chicago.
As part of his remarks, LaHood thanked Durbin for his efforts in getting high speed rail in the State. He added that in an effort to get tracks laid that will allow trains to move at such speed, jobs were created, which helped the economy. A total of $1.2 billion in Federal money, added to roughly $800,000 in State funding, helped make the high speed rail a reality for the State, he explained.
LaHood added USDOT has “invested over $2.5 billion in the Midwest to increase the speed and frequency of service.” He said that should be helpful to many area residents, including the numerous students who attend local universities who travel to and from Chicago and St. Louis and attend school here, and at other schools along the line such as Western Illinois University in Macomb and Galesburg-based Knox College.
Over a two-year period, according to IDOT, construction took place on 90 miles of railroad track stretching between Chicago and St. Louis. That includes over 237 track miles of new rail.
The State has traveled a good deal in terms of political miles, in an attempt to get to this point for high speed rail, Durbin said. “Five years ago in Washington, D. C., they wrote off Amtrak. No more Federal subsidy for passenger rail.” Now, however, Durbin countered, “The President had the courage to step up and say that, as part of saving this economy, we will address the infrastructure that will serve us for decades to come.”
Durbin said local leaders like Koos also stepped up and contributed ideas for how keeping rail moving in the area would aid the economy. He added that having rail service in the area benefits local college students, “keeping them from having to buy a car and add a new expense to the college experience.”
“We’re going to be expanding service all over the state,” IDOT’s Schneider told the gathering. “We’re going to be adding service to the Quad Cities, and to Rockford, on to Dubuque. That’s important to help create jobs and bring economic opportunity into those areas.”
Koos told the gathering high speed rail was part of “the new Normal.” He said Normal’s rail station has seen thousands of rail passengers go through the local station annually, as well as touted the Bloomington-Normal Marriott a short half-block walk from the station, new business openings; and the anticipated construction of the Uptown One project which will include a nine-floor apartment complex and seven-story Hyatt Place Hotel, complete with ground floor retail space. Koos added that what has been constructed so far “could not have taken place without” Federal and State help.
Koos said a total of $155 million worth of private development has been invested in Uptown Normal. Amtrak’s Carper told the gathering there has been an upswing in the number of passengers who commuted along the Chicago-To-St. Louis line in the last year. He said there were 675,295 passengers riding the rails in the last 12 months, an increase of 11 percent.
Union Protestors Present: But although there was a milestone being marked at this event, not everybody was in a celebratory mood. Roughly 30 members of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 31 greeted Quinn as he exited the train and stood next to reporters in the crowd, holding signs such as “Save Dwight Prison,” a reference to a location targeted for closure in an attempt to help the State get out of its current fiscal difficulties.