The Federal Railroad Administration has formally launched an 18-month Midwest Regional Rail Planning Study of how to develop a 40-year framework for high-performance, intercity passenger rail service in our region.

A new survey of college and university students in Winona, Minnesota, finds that four in 10 respondents say they have taken Amtrak, more than half say they would ride more frequently if more frequent service was available, and almost two-thirds say they consider passenger rail service important to the nation’s transportation future.

One of the nation’s most frustrating rail bottlenecks lies on Chicago’s south side: the 75th Street Corridor, encompassing six of the nation’s seven Class I freight railroads, two of Chicago’s Metra commuter rail lines, and Amtrak’s intercity service.

Ridership on seven of nine state-supported Amtrak routes in the Midwest grew by leaps and bounds over the last 10 fiscal years, but has dropped during the last five — a situation that state officials attribute at least in part to construction projects that aim to increase ridership and improve travel times over the long term.

While total ridership on the region’s routes grew 42 percent from fiscal years 2006 to 2016 (up to a total of 2,705,848 passengers), it dropped 8 percent from FY 2011 to FY 2016. Corridor improvement projects got underway after 2011, when federal funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 began flowing to state departments of transportation.

However, ridership figures for October 2016, released just before Thanksgiving, show that shorter-term regional trend may be starting to reverse – the Midwest’s state-supported routes carried 224,043 passengers in October, an increase of more than three percent (7,115 passengers) over October 2015.

Charles Wilson “Wick” Moormon will take over as president and CEO of Amtrak on Sept. 1, replacing Joseph Boardman, who has held the post since November 2008, Amtrak announced today. 

MIPRC Chair Tim Hoeffner was in Pueblo, Colorado, last week to witness the testing of the new Siemens Charger locomotive, which is being built for the Midwestern states, California and Washington, as well as other states and localities.

Good news! Last week, the Surface Transportation Board (STB) withdrew a proposal that MIPRC had filed opposition to during the docket’s public comments period, and issued another ruling that MIPRC favors.

MIPRC sent a letter to all U.S. Senators representing Midwestern states, asking them to strongly support and protect passenger rail-related appropriations when the FY 2017 transportation appropriations bill (S. 2844) is considered on the Senate floor.

MIPRC has submitted outside witness testimony (OWT) to the US Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) for FY 2017, asking for adequate funding to continue strengthening and expanding passenger rail service in our region.

The Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Commission’s new Universities & Colleges Passenger Rail Survey of students, faculty and staff at 30 colleges and universities across the Midwest about passenger rail service presents good news both for current service and its growth potential.