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WNIJ's summary of news items around our state.

Political Leaders Urge Rauner To Backtrack On Amtrak Cuts

Brian Mackey
/
WUIS

A group of downstate political leaders is urging Governor Bruce Rauner to backtrack on proposed cuts to Amtrak.

Members of the Midwest High Speed Rail Association held a news conference in Springfield to warn of possible cuts. Joining them was State Representative Don Moffitt, whose district includes the Amtrak line through Princeton, Galesburg and Macomb. 

Moffitt says Amtrak currently serves a lot of college students in western Illinois and across the state. He says if passenger rail service is ever going to be self-supporting, it must be on-time and provide options. 

Last year, Illinois paid Amtrak $42 million to support service between Chicago and the rest of the state. That would be cut to $26 million under Rauner's proposal.

Amtrak Board member Tom Carper was among a bipartisan group of politicians calling on Rauner to fully fund passenger rail. Carper, a former mayor of Macomb, says the rail service hires a lot of people and spends a lot of money in Illinois.

"If there were ways to do it cheaper than the cost that was there last year, it would have already have been done," Carper said. 

Carper refuses to speculate on what cuts would look like. The Midwest High Speed Rail Association predicts significant service reductions on routes across the state.

  • WUIS's Brian Mackey and WVIK contributed to this report.
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