I was watching the news the other night and on KCCI Channel 8 they reported that the state of Iowa is hoping that Amrak will soon start sevice fron Chicago to Iowa City. Our anti rail Govener says it would be possible to extend the service to Des Moines. Now I know this was talked about nearly ten years ago and even a couple of test trains were run. Just wonder if any of you out there who know about the planning that might be in the works Larry
Sounds like some folks out there are sniffing around the stimulus money.
There appears to be a well connected movement afoot. The first phase is restoration of Chicago Quad Cities service and then an extension of that service to Iowa City. Route studies have been completed by Amtrak, Illinois DOT and Iowa DOT, and Amtrak apparently went it alone in a route study of the Iowa City to Des Moines segment. The document linked below is from the QC rail passenger group and contains good info. The document date is from 2009. State cost for operations (does not include equipment acqusition, facilities, track improvements etc) is 6 million, shared by Illinois and Iowa.
http://www.qcrail.com/images/Quad%20Cities%20Amtrak%20Flyer-%203.4.09.pdf
If that survey is accurate and not an overly rosy outlook, that sounds like a fairly modest investment and yearly operating expense.
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
How about this: http://www.iowarail.com/passenger/passengerhome.htm (the meat and potatoes are in the linked studies). However, the capital costs to get to Iowa City would be well over $50 million.
I would not hold my breath. I remember in 1971 (right after Amtrak started) an individual living on the former C&NW Iowa Division (Carroll or Dennison???) was trying to get passenger train service back on that line. I think he was looking to reroute the San Francisco Zephyr off the BN; or, he was trying to get a new service started, perhaps a reincarnition of the Cities of Everywhere in Iowa and Nebraska. (In the summer of 1971 the SFZ was tri-weekly west of Denver and daily east of Denver. That summer, in practice, the Denver and San Francisco sections ran as separate sections (separate trains.) Also, the San Francisco train was routed UP from Denver to Cheyenne and then to Ogden. So running a separate train on a separate route through Iowa would not have been that outlandish an idea; It would have likely saved a few hours by running through Nebraska on the UP (still 90 MPH track at that time)
Back to today; if the object was to get to between Chicago and Des Moines, a reasonable route would be the former C&NW Iowa Division to the connection at Nevada, and then the Spine Line to Des Moines. This would provide service to Clinton, Cedar Rapids, and Marshalltown. Unfortunately it would turn south a few miles short of another college town, Ames. I believe the Iowa Disision is still equipped with ATC and is generally rated at 70 MPH freight speed (FRA class 5), so 90 MPH could be a reasonable possibllity between Chicago and Nevada. I believe the Spine Line is still good for 60 MPH Freight (FRA class 4) and has block signals so 79 MPH could be a possibility. The former C&NW Iowa Division is in much better condition than it was in 1971. However, he last time I saw it in late 2007 it seemed to have a lot of slow orders on the concrete tie portions, especially at grade crossings. I haven't a guess how the UP would react to passenger trains on this line.
PLEASE try to make your subjects less vague.
Actually, Iowa Governor Chet Culver is VERY pro-passenger rail; a total turnaround for my home state that was seemingly anti-passenger rail for decades.
While I definitely like the idea of extending Chicago - Quad Cities service to both Iowa City and Des Moines (and hopefully on to Council Bluffs/Omaha) the thing that bothers me is that a LOT of money is going to have to be spent to upgrade the IAIS mainline to 79 mph (Class IV standards). We all know that IAIS simply does not have the ability to do all the necessary track and new signaling work on its own. I could only take a stab at the millions of dollars it would take to do all that. But, if new service were to be on UP's former CNW "Overland Route" mainline across Iowa, there you've got a double-tracked mainline that is not only "ready" but it also serves good population centers; better than what the BNSF mainline through southern Iowa serves. Of course, the chance of a staunch anti-Amtrak Union Pacific being open to accepting new Amtrak service between Chicago and Omaha is about as great as hoping to revive President Kennedy back to life.
The question is not necessarily one of serving the large population centers (which often have transportation alternates) but of serving the areas where people will ride the trains. This is one of the advantages of the ex-CB&Q main across southern Iowa, it's an area that doesn't have a lot of alternate choices.
CSSHEGEWISCH The question is not necessarily one of serving the large population centers (which often have transportation alternates) but of serving the areas where people will ride the trains. This is one of the advantages of the ex-CB&Q main across southern Iowa, it's an area that doesn't have a lot of alternate choices.
Carl, I think that's a good point. I also think a lot of it has to do with the fact that back in 1971, the former "Q" mainline across southern Iowa was by far and away in better shape than any of the competing routes and a relatively easy choice for Amtrak. But I would like to see how the IAIS route would fare for Amtrak service if and when they can have it ready to go for Amtrak. Ditto for the CN's Iowa Division mainline for the Dubuque to Waterloo segment.
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