Amtrak

Amtrak trains through Bloomington-Normal are getting later and later. A report of on-time performance during the last budget year shows a four-year decline of trains arriving within a half hour of the scheduled time.

The Normal Town Council hasn't yet decided how to address the loss of grocery tax revenue included in the new state budget, said Mayor Chris Koos.

The U.S. Senate voted in January to confirm Normal Mayor Chris Koos' appointment to the Amtrak Board of Directors. Koos said he's already been to his first board meeting since then.

After nearly four years of waiting and nominations by two different presidents, the mayor of Normal has a seat on the board of the nation's passenger rail service.

The Federal Railroad Administration is giving Illinois $95.1 million for passenger train service. Some of that will go toward the Chicago-to-St. Louis corridor that includes Bloomington-Normal, Pontiac and Lincoln in central Illinois.

Gov. JB Pritzker recently voiced support for the Chicago Hub Improvement Program (CHIP), a plan that also holds promise for Amtrak service through Bloomington-Normal. The investment in transportation infrastructure would fix several problems at Union Station and connect it to two potential passenger-focused main lines.

A trip from St. Louis to Chicago via Amtrak’s Lincoln Service will be about 15 minutes quicker starting this week due to track upgrades that allow for increased speeds.

Tourism officials have launched a campaign to encourage more people to do their summer vacation travel by train.

The massive influx of federal money for Amtrak from the infrastructure law will help the Chicago-to-St. Louis corridor — even though much of the rolling stock on the corridor has been replaced over the last decade, says Normal Mayor Chris Koos, a nominee to serve on the board of the passenger rail system.

The federal government has signed off on higher speed Amtrak passenger trains between Chicago and St. Louis, running through Bloomington-Normal, completing more than three decades of effort to bring high-speed rail to the state and the nation's passenger rail service.