Amtrak Peoria - Chicago Proposal

Roadgeek Adam wrote: ↑Wed Dec 27, 2023 8:26 pm

The new service should be downtown and make it easier for Bradley University students to use. Plus, we could use this as an excuse to get service back to Chillicothe.

For reasons of Bradley U, downtown is a good idea. I guess there is a former Rock station nearby. Doesn't exactly look like walking distance however. Also worth discussing is the town of South Rome about twenty minutes north. There is a large Caterpillar Technical Center nearby that is styled as a university technical campus with visitors coming and going often, so a viable link to Midway and downtown Chicago other than rental cars would be nice.

Shame Amtrak doesn’t have much remaining in the way of Cat equipped locomotives to operate to a Cat town… the corporate enthusiasm to welcome Cummins (Charger) or Wabtec (P42) to town can only be expected to go so far.

That's like saying United and American won't operate Airbuses into Seattle, Charleston or Washington, DC.... the corporates don't care.

Tadman wrote: ↑Thu Dec 28, 2023 11:51 am

Roadgeek Adam wrote: ↑Wed Dec 27, 2023 8:26 pm

The new service should be downtown and make it easier for Bradley University students to use. Plus, we could use this as an excuse to get service back to Chillicothe.

For reasons of Bradley U, downtown is a good idea. I guess there is a former Rock station nearby. Doesn't exactly look like walking distance however. Also worth discussing is the town of South Rome about twenty minutes north. There is a large Caterpillar Technical Center nearby that is styled as a university technical campus with visitors coming and going often, so a viable link to Midway and downtown Chicago other than rental cars would be nice.

Two former Rock Island stations to be pedantic about it. The older (1890's) is on the riverfront in downtown. The newer (1960's) is a little ways to the northwest. Both have occupants and both would require a fair bit of work to return to operations status.