By Kay Luna, QC Times

With an old train depot in the background, a group of Quad-City leaders urged area residents Friday to get on board their push for passenger-rail service to Chicago.

Rock Island County Board chairman Jim Bohnsack and others from both the Illinois and Iowa sides of the Mississippi River gathered to announce the creation of a new advocacy group called the Quad-Cities Passenger Rail Coalition, or Q-C Rail.

They hope the group will help generate a long list of local supporters in favor of the Amtrak service, as the Quad-Cities competes against other communities also in the running for a Chicago rail connection.

“It’s time we show really how important the passenger rail is,” Bohnsack said during a news conference outside the Quad-City Convention and Visitors Bureau office in Moline. “We’ve got the momentum going.”

The group hopes to secure service to the Quad-Cities within two years, Bohnsack said, as he stood alongside officials representing Moline, East Moline, Rock Island, Silvis, Davenport and Bettendorf.

By coincidence, a privately chartered Amtrak passenger train is expected to remain parked under the Centennial Bridge in Rock Island this weekend. Bohnsack said the train is an example of what the group hopes to bring to the Quad-Cities on a regular basis — for everyone to enjoy.

“We all want to be on that first ride,” he said. “This work is just beginning.”

Paul Rumler of the Illinois Quad-City Chamber of

Commerce said Amtrak is in the midst of a feasibility study focused on a possible route between the Quad-Cities and Chicago. The study is expected to be finished this fall.

Amtrak also is looking at routes connecting Chicago to Rockford and Dubuque, and now Peoria also wants consideration, said Jeff Nelson, MetroLINK bus service general manager and chamber board chairman.

With all that competition for funding and support, Quad-City leaders are “rallying for support,” Rumler added.

“We need to build that coalition up,” he said.

Passenger rail service makes sense because of the community’s long railroad history, Bohnsack said. At one time, the area saw three or four daily passenger trips to Chicago on the rail lines. Now, 29 years has passed since the last regularly scheduled passenger train chugged out of the Quad-Cities in 1978, Bohnsack said.

The connection is key for the Quad-Cities to increase the economic vitality and quality of life for the region, Nelson said, adding that business people and commuting residents would greatly benefit.

He said the connection not only would open up Chicago to the Quad-Cities, but also the Quad-Cities to Chicago.

Bohnsack added that the Quad-Cities “must be united in our effort,” on both sides of the Mississippi River, and that the coalition’s membership will show the region’s enthusiasm as rail-expansion decisions are made on the state level.

He credits strong support from U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., for pushing the effort, along with other lawmakers on both sides of the river.

Another big supporter is Rick Harnish, executive director of the Midwest High Speed Rail Association in Chicago, who sent along a letter applauding the coalition’s creation.

“Local residents and business leaders need to tell the General Assembly that modern trains are a high priority,” he writes. “Rapidly rising gas prices are straining personal and business travel budgets. Only fast trains can simultaneously reduce travel expenses while reducing the trip times to Chicago.”

Quad-Cities Passenger Rail Coalition

Those who support the idea of bringing passenger-rail service to connect the Quad-Cities and Chicago are asked to join a new advocacy group, called the Quad-Cities Passenger Rail Coalition.

Supporters can register online at www.quadcitychamber.com/qcrail

Kay Luna can be contacted at (563) 383-2323 or kluna@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at www.qctimes.com.

© Copyright 2007, The Quad-City Times, Davenport, IA