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| Ridership, Stimulus Good for Amtrak in Illinois |
A tough economy and high gas prices hasn't kept people away from taking trains across the state.
Marc Magliari, a spokesman for Amtrak says, ridership seems to be holding up well including ridership on the Galesburg, Macomb, Quincy, and Chicago route. Magliari says ridership on that route is up almost four percent over what ridership was last year at the same time. Ridership on the Chicago to St. Louis route, which may be seeing many upgrades thanks to the stimulus package soon, saw an increase of five percent.
Maglieri tells WGIL he's happy to see the increases in riders along routes locally. "The Chicago, Macomb, Quincy (lines), via Galesburg, includes the morning train from Quincy, the "Illinois Zephyr," and the morning train from Chicago, the "Carl Sandburg," and their counterparts coming back...exact numbers from October through March, 114,019 riding that route. That's up four percent from the same period a year ago," Magliari said.
Magliari says some of the $1,3 billion Amtrak is receiving from the federal stimulus package, including $80 million being spent in the state, will primarily be used in the Chicago area facility to fix long deferred projects that can make service more reliable.
Magliari says some of the money will be, in his words, sprinkled all around, including making upgrades to platforms and improving shelters at stations and a possible reconfiguration of tracks at the Galesburg Amtrak station in order to reduce congestion in that area of tracks. |
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| 04 16 09 by Newsroom |
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