Genoa puts brakes on Amtrak plan

By Thomas V. Bona

BusinessRockford.com

The proposed Amtrak route between Chicago and Rockford is up in the air again.

State transportation officials — who will make the ultimate call — say they’re no longer sure whether the route should go through Belvidere or Genoa.

George Weber, head of the Illinois Department of Transportation’s railroads bureau, said in April that IDOT supported the Belvidere route after leaders in Winnebago and Boone counties lobbied for it.

But Genoa officials passed a resolution Tuesday night saying the original route — which ran through Genoa and cut Belvidere out of the route altogether — makes the most sense.

Now, IDOT officials are rethinking the plan, Weber said, and will likely submit both routes as options in the application for federal stimulus funds. If IDOT gets the money, it’ll then make the choice.

“We were led to believe there was a regional consensus, but that does not appear to be the case as evidenced by the correspondence and messages we have been receiving from DeKalb County,” Weber said.

Either way, the route would continue through Rockford to Freeport, Galena and Dubuque, Iowa. It could start as early as November 2011.

Einar Forsman, president of the Rockford Chamber of Commerce and a leader of the new, pro-Amtrak Northwest Illinois Blackhawk Express coalition, said IDOT’s change of tune made no sense. He said leaders from four Illinois counties along the route back the Belvidere route.

“I don’t understand the definition of regional consensus,” he said. “Does that mean that if one community in the mix objects, (IDOT is) going to unplug?”

Genoa, a city of about 5,000 in DeKalb County, is much smaller than Belvidere, which has a population of 26,000. But DeKalb County is nearly twice as big as Boone County, and Genoa officials there have said their proximity to Northern Illinois University makes it a good stop on an Amtrak line. The old Black Hawk line, which ended in 1981, went through Genoa to Rockford.

The original study by Amtrak said the Genoa route would be faster, cheaper and more popular. But later studies by Rockford-area leaders said the Belvidere route could shave 20 minutes off a trip and draw more people, although much of that information was part of a study of proposed commuter rail service, which would also go through Belvidere but would otherwise be separate.

It’s expected that the Amtrak route would cost $60 million in track upgrades and state subsidies initially.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact staff writer Thomas V. Bona at 815-987-1343 or tbona@rrstar.com.

 

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