Iowa asks feds split Chicago-IC rail grant, allow Illinois to proceed
Iowa transportation planners have asked the federal government to split its share of a $230 million grant for Chicago-Iowa City passenger rail service from Illinois’. While Illinois proceeds with its end of the new route, Iowa will study extending the service to Omaha.
“We felt it’s important to complete this planning study before we move into implementation,” said Stuart Anderson, director of the Iowa Department of Transportation’s planning, programming, and modal division.
The FRA announced the $230 million grant last October, but Gov. Terry Branstad’s lack of support for Iowa’s $3 million annual operating subsidy for the service has stalled the project.
In a letter sent Monday to the FRA, Anderson and IDOT Rail Office Director Tammy Nicholson ask the agency to release Illinois’ $143 million share of the grant, allowing Illinois to plan and implement service between Chicago and Moline. Iowa’s $87 million would be held in reserve, but the state will go ahead with a $2 million study of extending the service across the state to Omaha on the Cedar Rapids-based Iowa Interstate Railroad.
The FRA announced a $1 million grant for the Iowa study, later matched by the state Legislature.
The study “would provide that broader regional perspective with a lot more public input,” said Anderson.
The study would also consider the improvements needed to allow trains to run up to 90 mph rather than the 79-mph limit planned for the Chicago-Iowa City route.
“That would really improve the travel times, and we feel would have the chance to really increase the ridership numbers,” Anderson said.
Even if rail backers can overcome legislative Republicans’ opposition to the project, actual work on the Moline-Iowa City leg will be on hold until the plan is finished.
“That was originally envisioned for two years, but we’re hoping to work with the FRA to see if we can move that along,” Anderson said.
Once the trans-Iowa study is finished, the entire route to Omaha would be eligible for federal aid, Anderson said.
So instead of getting an actual operating train connecting to the Chicago market and increased mobility in the region, we want to just do another study instead.
There comes a time when you need to stop studying and take action. Apparently Iowa seems to be incapable of that, even after receiving the funding to take action.