Illinois politicians have been promising to restore passenger train service to Rockford for nearly a quarter century.
In 2002, then-candidate Rod Blagojevich pledged to bring passenger rail back to Rockford when elected Governor. I don’t need to tell you that the pledge was not fulfilled.
In 2010, Governor Pat Quinn visited Rockford to announce $60 million in state capital funds to re-establish passenger rail service between Chicago and Rockford. In 2012, Quinn allocated an additional $3 million to design and engineer a new multi-modal station near downtown Rockford. Then in 2014, Quinn announced a $223 million project to bring Amtrak back to Rockford.
At the time, service was projected to begin in 2015, but was subsequently put on hold by Governor Bruce Rauner.
Then in 2019, the Rebuild Illinois capital program included $275 million to bring passenger rail service back to Rockford.
Now more than seven years later, we’re told that service will be operational by the end of 2027 and operated by Metra.
Future operation of the Chicago to Rockford service must be included in annual appropriations from the state’s budget each year, but many important questions remain unanswered.
First and foremost, what will the cost be, and who will foot the bill?
After more than seven years of new promises, millions of tax dollars spent, and little progress to show for it, Gov. JB Pritzker is setting taxpayers up for yet another blow.
When the current IDOT funding runs out, will the state continue to fund passenger rail operations between Rockford and Chicago, or pass the burden onto local taxpayers? No one knows for sure.
If the state fails to provide funding, the county boards in Winnebago and Boone counties could vote to join the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) soon to become Northern Illinois Transit Authority (NITA) to maintain rail service, but that would mean imposing the RTA/NITA’s sales tax of 1% on general merchandise and qualifying food, drugs, and medical appliances (which goes up a quarter-percent every time more money is needed); on top of the state and local sales taxes we already pay.
What would the ticket price be for a round-trip fare from Rockford to Chicago? Officials cannot say.
How many passengers would be expected to utilize it, and would enough money be made in fares to maintain service? Nobody can answer that either.
We do know a one-way trip would take approximately two hours, with two round-trips per day offered.
With so many unanswered questions, no long-term funding plan, and unknown costs regarding fares and higher taxes, families in Winnebago and Boone counties would be right to question whether the state’s promise to bring passenger rail service to Rockford is yet another ill-fated boondoggle we cannot afford and realistically would not even last much beyond a few years.
State Rep. John Cabello, R-Machesney Park, represents Illinois’ 90th House District, an area that encompasses parts of Boone, Stephenson and Winnebago counties.
This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Rockford’s passenger rail promise is yet another boondoggle | Opinion
Reporting by John Cabello, Special to the Rockford Register Star / Rockford Register Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By John Cabello, Special to the Rockford Register Star | USA TODAY Network
