HR0529 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0529 LRB102 21123 LAW 30105 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The U.S. Congress passed a law that transferred the requirement of the railroads to operate passenger trains to the federally-owned National Railroad Passenger Corporation in 1970; and

WHEREAS, When the U.S. Department of Transportation drew maps defining where these Amtrak trains would go, they did not include local service in Illinois between Quincy and Chicago, which included Macomb, Galesburg, Kewanee, Princeton, Mendota, Plano, and the Chicago suburbs, and the service ended on May 11, 1971; and

WHEREAS, When interested parties in Macomb and Quincy lost their fight against the law in federal court, they then asked the State of Illinois to sponsor the service, worked with communities along the route, and convinced the Illinois General Assembly and Governor to sponsor daily local Amtrak service under the Illinois Department of Transportation; and

WHEREAS, The morning eastbound and evening westbound Illinois Zephyr trains have operated since November 4, 1971; and

WHEREAS, This region of Illinois has benefited from being the longest continuously operated state-supported train in the Amtrak network for 50 years; and

WHEREAS, These same communities banded together to create the Amtrak Carl Sandberg train in 2006, with departures westbound in the morning and eastbound in the evening, doubling local service on the route; this route is marking its 15th anniversary this year; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we declare November 3, 2021 as Amtrak Anniversary Day in the State of Illinois; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we recognize the work in 1971 and again in 2006 that resulted in this region of Illinois having vital passenger train connections to and from Chicago and cities in Western and North-Central Illinois; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge the cities on the route to continue to work with each other, Amtrak, the Illinois Department of Transportation, and others to maintain and improve the local Amtrak service that is such an asset to the communities it serves; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be presented to the mayors of Quincy, Macomb, Galesburg, Kewanee, Princeton, Mendota, Plano, Naperville, and LaGrange.