Amtrak

Mayor Chris Koos says the atmosphere in Washington, D.C., is unsettled, as the flurry of executive orders seeking to chop federal spending continues.

A planned annual 2% increase in Town of Normal water rates in each of the next six years may not be enough to maintain adequate fund balances.

The bids for the long-awaited underpass project beneath the railroad tracks in Uptown Normal have come back. The low bid is $35.16 million.

The Uptown Station Amtrak stop in Normal is the second busiest in the state with 10 passenger trains a day coming through on the Chicago-to-St. Louis corridor.

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.