Downstate commuter rail deserves a closer look

Down to Business

Sunday, October 14, 2007

I'm lucky there isn't another restaurant chain known as kfc, in this case, Kansas Fried Crow, as at least one of my friends suggested I might want to eat a little of the bird after my prediction the Cubs would beat the 'Backs in four. Fortunately, last week's Scarecrow Festival in Standish Park, which drew large crowds, kept the crows away. Hey, I bet those close-out deals caused the Cubs Central Division T-shirts to fly off the shelves at local stores. The Cubs are good for business, one way or the other. Who's going to make a fortune with the centennial T-shirt marking next year's 100th anniversary of the Cubs' glorious triumph in the 1908 World Series? (I enjoyed every game that year, although TV reception wasn't great.)

You no doubt know from past columns that I'm a supporter of studying the feasibility of commuter rail service between Galesburg and Peoria. Thus, I was interested in a recent GateHouse News Service story that the Northern Illinois Commuter Transportation Initiative received $275,000 in matching funds from the state and will receive $1 million in federal money to continue its study of a Rockford-Chicago commuter line.

Two rail options are being studied - one connecting to the Metra in Elgin, with stops in Huntley, Belvidere and downtown Rockford. The other would go through Genoa and Davis Junction to Chicago/Rockford International Airport.

"Rapid bus options" also are under consideration, although the rail option was favored during public meetings, according to GateHouse.

NICTI is being funded by $2.4 million in federal money and $600,000 from the state over several years. Federal money would pay for construction.

Galesburg Alderman Mike Lummis, Ward 7, is a supporter of a Quad Cities-Galesburg-Peoria-Bloomington-Champaign route.

The Rockford-Chicago route would be shorter, thus costing less money to build - probably. Existing track could be used for the route I proposed - perhaps - as well as the one Lummis likes. Maybe the longer route could be built gradually, a portion at a time.

Yes, Rockford and Chicago are much larger than our area, but, according to GREDA, there are about 900,000 people within a 50-mile radius of Galesburg. Add Bloomington-Normal and Champaign-Urbana and that's more than 1 million people. The route also would have the advantage of making travel to Galesburg, B-N and Champaign-Urbana, all Amtrak cities with trains heading in different directions, easier for people in Peoria and the Quad Cities. That's good for area commuters and Amtrak.

This will require a regional effort and there are no guarantees. But, I think the communities involved should give it a try. Maybe we can engineer this, get it on track. It may take some training, but if we can get up a head of steam, I believe we can switch some mindsets and bring this idea into the station. (OK, enough with the puns. I don't want our loyal readers railing at me. - Oops, sorry, I couldn't resist.)

Let's not miss the boat, uh, I mean the train. Someone needs to step up to the plate and take a leadership role in this. Gas prices are likely to increase and it appears we have more commuters from our area than ever before. All aboard.

John R. Pulliam is business editor at The Register-Mail. Contact him at 343-7181, Ext. 215, or jpulliam@register-mail.com.