Success of Quincy line holds hope for Iowa City rail service

QUINCY, Ill. - The Illinois Zephyr - a workaday locomotive and four cars sitting in the predawn darkness in Quincy, Ill. - isn't the sleek, futuristic image of high-speed travel, but it's what some Eastern Iowans have worked toward for years.

While the effort to bring passenger service to Iowa City by 2015 still faces some political and financial obstacles, trains sponsored by Iowa's would-be operating partners Amtrak and the state of Illinois continue to draw travelers - 1.6 million in 2010 - from the highways and airways.

“It's pretty convenient,” said Don Huechteman, a Quincy retiree seeing his wife off for a weekend visit to her sister in Chicago. “With the price of gas, you're probably saving money taking the train, and it's less effort. That's the big thing.”

Teri Ayers of Quincy, on her way to visit her daughter in Chicago, agreed: “You just get on the train, and you don't have to worry about the snow and the ice. You have the restrooms, and you have the coffee. You can get a cup of coffee, watch a movie and relax. You can talk on the phone; you don't have to worry about the traffic.”

State support is Illinois advantage

Illinois spends $8.1 million a year to operate the Illinois Zephyr and its running mate on the Quincy route, named for the prairie poet Carl Sandburg. Illinois spends $26 million a year for Amtrak to operate 30 trains a day over four routes - 14 trains between Chicago and Milwaukee.

“That's one advantage Illinois has had that other states have not,” said Craig Sanders, a professor of journalism at Cleveland State University and author of five books on railroad history. “Illinois differs from any other Midwest state in that it has a much longer history of state government support for Amtrak, including financial support.”

The Illinois Zephyr between Quincy and Chicago was the first train operated under chapter 403(b) of the law that created Amtrak in 1971. The provision allows the passenger railroad to operate trains outside its basic national network when states are willing to cover the cost.

Forty years on, advocates in Iowa hope to launch the state's first 403(b) trains, a daily pair linking Iowa City and Chicago, by 2015. Proponents are optimistic they can work around Gov. Terry Branstad's stated opposition to the $3 million annual operating subsidy.

“With the people I've talked to in the Quad Cities and Iowa, there seems to be a good amount of enthusiasm,” said Tom Carper, chairman of Amtrak's board and former mayor of Macomb on the Illinois Zephyr route. “If you look at Iowa City with the university population and the Quad Cities with the combined population there, it will be different, but I think the demand is there, and I think with quick service the ridership will be fine.”

Even in Iowa City, there are skeptics.

“I suspect it would take a period of time for that culture to develop,” said John Fuller, a professor in the University of Iowa's School of Urban and Regional Planning who specializes in transportation planning. “Intercity rail had a past, without question. Since that time other things have taken over. Megabus has been, as far as I can tell, doing OK around here.”

Quincy routes log growth

One recent morning, sleepy passengers - many carrying cups of takeout coffee - boarded the Illinois Zephyr, Amtrak train 380, right up until its 6:12 a.m. departure from Quincy. A few were still finding seats when the train eased into motion, gathering speed into the darkened countryside.

“You don't have to get shaken down” by airline security, said first-time rider Bryon Law of Mount Sterling, Ill. “We were under way in less than 10 minutes after getting to the station.”

With only about two dozen passengers to start the run, each can grab an empty pair of seats for extra room, but conductor Dave Ward warned that wouldn't last.

“You guys are OK for now,” he said over the train's PA, “but you'll want to sit together later. We've got a sold-out train this morning.”

The Quincy trains carried just less than 88,000 passengers between Oct. 1 and Feb. 28, an 8 percent increase over the same period a year earlier.

The hum of the coaches' air-handling system was the loudest noise as riders sipped coffee, read the morning paper or napped, lulled by the gently swaying ride on welded rail. The traditional clickety-clack was absent, except when the train clattered across a track switch.

“It's pretty cool, actually,” said first-time rider Jordan Smith, a student at Black Hawk East College in Peoria, Ill. “They've got comfortable seating; it moves pretty fast.”

Probably 60 passengers, many evidently students at Western Illinois University, waited on the platform at Macomb, 56 miles and 48 minutes from Quincy. Watching but not boarding that day was Carper, Macomb's former mayor, an Amtrak board member since 2008 and its chairman for the past two years.

“It's been an ongoing effort all these years, with the communities up and down the line, the universities,” Carper said.

Amtrak requires most communities along the line to provide and maintain their stations. Macomb purchased its classic brick depot from the railroad and leases space to a travel agent, stipulating the station must be open and staffed for all trains - meaning 7 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., seven days a week.

“(The travel agent) may be one of the best Amtrak employees we don't have,” said Carper.

Twice-a-day trains seem key

The City Council plans to purchase Iowa City's 1898 Rock Island depot, now a law office, to serve as a train station again.

“There are people positioned to really maximize the potential of that area,” said Nancy Quellhorst, president and CEO of the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce. “The city has a robust plan for development, and that excites the property owners and business owners in the area.”

Carper said Amtrak, state transportation planners and representatives of communities along the line meet regularly to discuss service improvements.

“I really like trains, but I like what trains can do for my community,” he said. “That's the perspective I bring to the board.”

Iowa City service would launch with twice-daily trains, something Illinois' 403(b) routes didn't enjoy until 2006, when the State Assembly doubled the state's operating subsidy. Instead of laying over for the next day's run, each equipment set now makes a daily round-trip, providing a morning and evening train in each direction.

“That led to an explosion in ridership,” said Joe Shacter, Illinois Department of Transportation's rail director. “Merely increasing frequency without adding more equipment convinced all of us, including Gov. (Pat) Quinn, that people want a new choice.”

Carper notes Iowa City “will have options we didn't have for years. It made all the difference in the world, and it really works.”

Rider Ayers likes the convenience of twice-a-day trains. “You can either go up on a Saturday morning or Friday evening and have the whole weekend,” she said.

She travels to Chicago once or twice a month, taking the train “three-quarters of the time. Once you get up there, your car is just a hassle. It costs too much for parking, and the traffic is awful.”

Cost, convenience are factors

Like the airlines, Amtrak tailors fares to match demand. A one-way Quincy-Chicago ticket ranges from $19.50 for a Saturday-morning departure purchased a week in advance to $69 for a ticket bought the day before a Friday-morning departure. Midweek travel reserved a day ahead is $26 each way.

Advance-purchase tickets from Galesburg to Chicago, 162 miles, are as cheap as $20. That's where Dave and Monica Lin and their three children boarded after driving 45 minutes from their home in Peoria. The family was out for a day trip: Field Museum, Shedd Aquarium and “real Chicago pizza,” as Monica Lin puts it.

“We had driven the other times,” she said over a light breakfast in the onboard cafe, adding that they thought it would be fun for the family.

“We'll sit with the kids and take goofy pictures of them” instead of concentrating on traffic, said David Linn. “I like not having to sit in my little seat in my little car.”

Daughter Bayley Brake, 11, likes it, too. “I think it's, like, better than if we drive. I like it a lot more, because you can move around,” she said.

Virtually all the train's 200 seats were occupied after its Galesburg stop. Train 380 rolled to a stop along Chicago Union Station's subterranean platforms at 10:20 a.m., 20 minutes early.

Local funding is new concept

Eastern Iowa rail backers hope their plans come off as smoothly. The chief concern now: Branstad's pledge not to tap the state's general fund for the service's operating subsidy.

“You have to have very strong support from your state government,” said railroad historian Sanders. “You need to have the support of the governor.”

Quellhorst remains optimistic. Her organization led local lobbying for the Iowa City service.

“We have the good fortune to have a governor who didn't act hastily, but who looked at it,” she said. “We presented a sound business plan that displays support from a wide variety of supporters.”

Planners have come up with a proposal for local governments to fund nearly half the state's annual share without tapping the general fund. The plan calls for Johnson County to provide $354,690 a year and Linn County $190,103. Funding a 403(b) with money from local governments would be a first.

“Half of the funding could come from local partner participation and the other half from statewide sources,” said Tammy Nicholson, director of the Iowa Department of Transportation's rail office. “This was reaching out, and I think it is a unique solution.”

Carper said some of the 15 states funding 403(b) trains offer lessons for Iowa. North Carolina and Virgina are adding trains to existing routes, and Maine has carved out a niche by featuring local menu items in the cafe car of its Boston-Portland Downeasters.

“With the publicity and the grass roots interest that's there, I think (Iowa service) will be a great addition,” he said. “That's the key, when you have local leader and planners involved.”

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