Chicago-Quincy-Hannibal- St Louis Possible Amtrak Service

[toddinde]

The trains still layover there, they just cut revenue service and demolished the station, last service there was in 1994. The wye for turning the train is there as well. But the Quincy and West Quincy stations were both stops, they didn't skip Quincy, IL when West Quincy, MO was the terminus. So it wasn't a relocation, they just cut back service. I'm not sure what the passenger numbers to West Quincy looked like but I imagine it was pretty tiny. West Quincy is a town of like 500 or 600 and there aren't really any bigger towns very close by.

CB&Q and Amtrak didn’t stop in Quincy. When the Burlington built the West Quincy station in the late ‘40’s, early ‘50’s, that became the station. It was kind of a mid century moderne gem actually. Similar stations were built in LaCrosse, Burlington and Ottumwa, though Burlington and Ottumwa were much larger. It was later in Amtrak era that trains started stopping in downtown Quincy.

 

[como]

CB&Q and Amtrak didn’t stop in Quincy. When the Burlington built the West Quincy station in the late ‘40’s, early ‘50’s, that became the station. It was kind of a mid century moderne gem actually. Similar stations were built in LaCrosse, Burlington and Ottumwa, though Burlington and Ottumwa were much larger. It was later in Amtrak era that trains started stopping in downtown Quincy.

This YouTube video includes pictures of the station in West Quincy. Downtown Quincy, IL is no more than five minutes from the site of the old station. .

 

[Metra Electric Rider]

Interesting station building - definitely late Streamline/early "MCM" to some degree. Love the old Vega and Pinto in the lot.

 

[PaulM]

When the Burlington-Rock Island, "Zephyr Rocket" started in 1941, it ran between Quincy and Hannibal in about 30 minutes....

https://streamlinermemories.info/RI/RI41ZephyrRocket.pdf

Since it's at least 140 miles from W. Quincy to St Louis, I doubted the 30 minutes. The time table in the attachment show it leaving St. Louis at 5:30PM and arriving in Quincy at 8:23PM.

 

[PaulM]

One thing I'm unsure of is when the service stopped. I found info online that said service was cut back on May 1, 1994. My memory is that service was disrupted during the Great Mississippi River Flood of 1993 because the trains couldn't cross over to West Quincy and that it never restarted. But my memory could be wrong. So I'm not sure if service was cut in summer 1993 and never came back then was officially taken off the schedule in 1994, or if service resumed and then they decided to cut it back shortly thereafter.

Service was cut by the 93 flood which inundated the BNSF yard in W. Quincy (where the station was located) along with the entire flood plane on the Missouri side of the river. I don't believe the service was ever restarted once the waters finally receded..

 

[railiner]

Since it's at least 140 miles from W. Quincy to St Louis, I doubted the 30 minutes. The time table in the attachment show it leaving St. Louis at 5:30PM and arriving in Quincy at 8:23PM.

The 30”, is only from Quincy to Hannibal…

 

[toddinde]

This YouTube video includes pictures of the station in West Quincy. Downtown Quincy, IL is no more than five minutes from the site of the old station. .

That was a beautiful station. Too bad it couldn’t have been maintained.

 

[Franklin Seahawk]

$500,000? Do we have a decision yet? Needs to at least come to Hannibal.

 

[user535733]

$500,000? Do we have a decision yet? Needs to at least come to Hannibal.

It's unclear what you want to be "decided." The Missouri DOT has already said "yes, we want to do this."

Now they must come up with a Service Development Plan (SDP = business plan), an investment case, and determine the capital requirements and NEPA impacts (if any).

If the Missouri DOT does it right, and if the investment case justifies, then FRA will pay 80% of the capital cost...and 0% of the annual subsidy. The business plan is important.

The $500,000 grant is merely to get the Missouri DOT organized enough to estimate the time and money required simply to get the two states, Amtrak, and the host RR to agree on the business plan. FRA will even fund 80% of writing the SDP...but they want a firm budget. No blank checks. No surprises.

 

[Franklin Seahawk]

Yes, but it's been 12 months+. Is there a timeline for this?

 

[MARC Rider]

The $500,000 grant is merely to get the Missouri DOT organized enough to estimate the time and money required simply to get the two states, Amtrak, and the host RR to agree on the business plan. FRA will even fund 80% of writing the SDP...but they want a firm budget. No blank checks. No surprises.

I don't think the general public realizes how much engineering contracts cost. All of the development work needs to be done by professionals earning low six-figure salaries, with managers making more and technicians making a bit less. Labor is billed at 3 - 5 times the actual salaries to cover overhead. That's even true for government agencies, even though the overhead amounts may be lower and the salaries slightly less. Under these conditions, a $500,000 study is really not very much money. Two professionals working on the job for a year would burn that $500K pretty quickly. Imagine a job that needs a team of them.

Now maybe one could do it cheaper using graduate students (aka "slaves") but somebody making real money has to be paid to supervise them, they may not know exactly what they're doing, and there's no guarantee the work will get done.

 

[user535733]

Yes, but it's been 12 months+. Is there a timeline for this?

The timeline is one of the elements that Missouri DOT is supposed to be figuring out right now.

If you want it faster, then get the stakeholders on board. If there is consensus on the SDP already, the next steps of the process will go much faster. If the host railroad is agreeable, then the next steps of the process will go much faster. If the 20% local match is ready, then the next steps of the process won't pause awaiting that key element.

 

[Franklin Seahawk]

So you don't know either?

 

[user535733]

So you don't know either?

The timeline is one of the elements that Missouri DOT is supposed to be figuring out right now.

As a Missouri constituent, you can phone the DOT's multimodal section and and ask them.
Please share what you discover.