The Corridors: Rock Island
The Rock Island corridor parallels Interstate 80 between Chicago and Rock Island. Metra owns the trackage between Chicago and Joliet and operates 23 daily roundtrips on that segment.
There are no passenger trains west of Joliet, but two proposals to establish service have gained momentum.
Extended Commuter Rail: The communities of Joliet, La Salle, Marseilles, Minooka, Morris, Ottawa, Peru, Seneca, and Utica together with Grundy and La Salle counties, are jointly promoting the creation of new commuter rail service.
This study is moving into the alternatives analysis phase.
Intercity:
Next Steps: The Illinois Department of Transportation is expected to release the findings of their study on the next steps for connecting the Quad Cities to Chicago in early January 2008. IDOT expects to conduct a study of Chicago to Peoria service later in 2008.
Long Term: As part of a nine-state study, the Illinois Department of Transportation has performed an analysis of new service linking the Quad Cities and Chicago. The study proposed five daily roundtrips, with three running express and two all-stop locals.
This study assumed that a new connection would be constructed where the BNSF corridor crosses the Rock Island corridor near Wyanet. Rock Island trains would use the BNSF corridor between Wyanet and Chicago.
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