Amtrak Quad Cities Proposal Chicago, Moline, Iowa City

Suburban Station wrote:If this project was accomplished, what would prevent Amtrak from running the Zephyr to Omaha via Des Moine and Iowa City.

Iowa very much wants the Zepher moved to a more northern route, a project that in the past they were willing to spend $0 on, so Amtrak took a pass.

icgsteve wrote: ...a project that in the past they were willing to spend $0 on...

Same story, different day. Money talks. Calfiornia gives money to Amtrak and gets trains. Iowa gives nothing and gets the CZ on the BNSF (ex BN, ex CB&Q).

John_Perkowski wrote:
Same story, different day. Money talks. Calfiornia gives money to Amtrak and gets trains. Iowa gives nothing and gets the CZ on the BNSF (ex BN, ex CB&Q).

Sadly, as the situation is bad for both parties. California wastes a lot of money with those Ambuses. use that money for track upgrades and speed up the trains.

There appears to be a "flutter" of media coverage of late regarding proposed Chicago Iowa City and (maybe) Des Moines service. Simply go to Google, query something to the effect of "chicago iowa city train" and you will get some hits from various Iowa media sources.

Although a Chicago Des Moines "mixto" was part of the 1999 Amtrak Network Growth Strategy, I doubt if there was much more to the proposal than an excuse to feed some wired in consultants at the Feddybuck trough.

But this proposal meets the parameters of what 21st century passenger railroading is all about namely service to population centers, and a local level initiative including local level funding. I think there is a 50-50 chance this one just might work - and I just might use it myself.

Here is reference to theFeasability Study as well as one of the several recentnews media reports.

Here's the link to Iowa DOT's reports on the subject http://www.iowadot.gov/amtrakstudy/index.aspx

Thanks Mr. House, I knew that complete document was "out there somewhere", but I guess the rich kids from Sunnyvale were flying about on their 767 or otherwise "elsewhere' to keep them from properly addressing my request.

I thought the "old" plan was to use the C&NW/UP track from Chicago to Omaha. I can remember ILRAIL getting some of the online mayors to support the project. Supposedly, the C&NW/UP line could support some passenger traffic due to the Falcon TOFC & other high speed freight traffic. not sure if UP has made some "improvements" to the line, but C&NW still goes on the "wrong side?" I forget where in Iowa the trains swap from the S to N to get EB. The project died when Amtrak ran out of money.

If the old Rock is anything like the Nashville & Eastern, count on spending $1Mil per mile to rebuild it. Compare that to spending $8Mil or more to add 1 lane to I-80 if the ROW is available.

I've got to think a daytime alternative to the CZ could be a big hit.

The question needs to be asked though if all of these state ideas should be considered seriously. Even when the economy was humming very few states put serious money into intercity rail. The economic reality is now that the most states ability to capture revenue is failing rapidly, state leaders are being called, and increasingly will be called, to figure out how to slash state budgets, not to decide on new projects. There are lots of new studies coming out about new services, but in my view they are divorced from reality. They are academic.

I have to agree with icgsteve. In the case of Iowa, I know the old CB&Q (BNSF) bypasses the population centers, and what shape is the remnant RI in?

Is the MILW still there? I know they ripped it up out west.

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I know there are folks across State Line Road who are touting bringing to life the extension of the Heartland Flyer on the old Santa Fe route of the "Ranger." KDOT is commissioning 200K from Amtrak for a study, due Sept 2009. Problem is, infrastructure is gone and has to be (if it can be) built from scratch, no one knows what rate of advance will be (I can drive KC-Dallas in eight hours on I-35), and frequency of service has to pass the "can we divert traffic from I-35 and SWA?" test.

There are also Kansas Constitution issues, and servicable equipment may require a 28 month leadtime.

I wish I had good answers...

John_Perkowski wrote:
Is the MILW still there? I know they ripped it up out west.

The Iowa DOT has rail maps at:

http://www.iowarail.com/railroads/maps/maphome.htm

All of the former east-west MILW main across Iowa appears to be abandoned except for the far west end that extends northeast out of Omaha.

The Iowa Chicago & Eastern line shown on the IADOT map submitted by Mr. SDGreg across Northern Iowa serving Mason City is ex-MILW. Also of interest, be sure to note Postville within Allamakee County (20 miles or so W of Ol Man River) as that is the mythical location of the Farmers Co-Op I have used in discussion of "re-reg" matters both here and at other sites.

But "route of the Cities' Sabula-Council Bluffs, as the whining C&W song goes, is "Gone Gone Gone, Gone Gone Gone, crying won't bring her back".

States may not want to fund rail construction but the cost of road construction and maintenance is soaring and state transportation budgets are being strained. If people drive less, or if one presidential candidate's proposal for a federal gas tax suspension comes to pass, state transportation budgets will be decimated, resulting in a lot of unhappy voters. So maybe it's time to re-examine the "business as usual" transportation model and see if there's a more cost effective way of moving people and products...and what could that be?

Here's WSDOT's index of highway construction costs. The cost of rail construction is inflating too, but if states consider the lifetime benefits of investment in rail versus more road building plus the increasing cost of driving, more rail projects should be breaking ground.

One of my friends is David Engle, the Secretary of the Rock Island Technical Society. This is the assessment he provided for me on the condition of IAIS, late the CRI&P:

"RI east-west main across Iowa is now maintained by IAIS to 40mph standards, with a claim of 50 soon, last I heard. Single track where double used to be, east from West Liberty and from downtown Des Moines east out to Altoona. At Newton, the downtown yard is all gone but the mainline still goes around he north side in a big dogleg; now that Maytag is gone, I wonder if anyone will ever think to straighten out the dogleg like it was before shutdown. There is a new 4-track yard out east of town, I have never seen it. "

The link posted by joshuahouse contains the executive summary of the feasibility reports. These include hi-rail inspection reports and estimates of the cost to upgrade.

The relevant section from the executive summary on the Iowa portion of the route:

It is important to note that the Iowa Interstate continues to upgrade this line. In fact, management representatives indicated that within three years (i.e., by the end of 2010) all remaining jointed rail from Quad Cities to Iowa City will be replaced with CWR. Thus, the recommended
scope of capital replacement could drop dramatically over the next year or so.

In other words, "The longer it takes to start up this service, the cheaper it will be because IAIS will be paying for the track upgrades."

Does IAIS have signals or is it dispatched in some other way?