Amtrak posts ridership gains on Illinois routes

Nearly 2 million people rode state-supported Amtrak trains in Illinois over the past year, according to figures released today by the national rail passenger operator.

The numbers may be of interest in Iowa because the planned Iowa City-Chicago service would be an extension of a new Chicago-Quad Cities route under development by Amtrak and the Illinois Department of Transportation. Backers predict two daily Iowa City-Chicago round trips would draw nearly 247,000 riders in 2015, its first year of operation.

Total Amtrak ridership on routes operated with Illinois DOT support was 1,969,093 for the year ending Sept. 30, an increase of 130,418 ( 7 percent), Amtrak said. That includes service between Chicago and Milwaukee as well as routes serving downstate college towns like Champaign and Bloomington.

The routes that may be most similar to an Iowa-Chicago run are those to colleges towns such as Carbondale, home to Southern Illinois University; Champaign-Urbana (University of Illinois); and Bloomington-Normal (Illinois State and Illinois Wesleyan).

Carbondale saw just over 116,000 passengers for the year, Champaign-Urbana 142,406. Both stations see three trains daily, the Chicago-Carbondale Saluki/Illini and the Chicago-New Orleans City of New Orleans.

Bloomington-Normal served nearly 210,000 on five daily trains: four on the Chicago-St. Louis run and the Texas Eagle, which continues to San Antonio with through cars to Los Angeles.