Iowa City’s Press-Citizen has an item about the newest Facebook group.
A week after a supportive crowd met about proposed passenger rail service from Iowa City to Chicago, more than 1,000 people signed up to become members of a Facebook group supporting the grassroots effort.
The Facebook group, “I Support Iowa City Rail to Chicago,” includes many University of Iowa alumni and Eastern Iowa residents.
…
The “Chicago Flyer,” operated by Amtrak, would take almost five hours to get from Iowa City to Chicago with a one-way rate of about $45. Eventually, it could extend west to Des Moines and then link with more routes in Omaha, Neb.
And there is more from WQAD in the Hawkeye State
This morning the Quad City Development Group announced results of their trip to Washington, D.C. where they met with lawmakers and pushed for funding of local projects. According to Rock Island County Board Chairman Jim Bohnsack, the money for rail service between the Quad Cities and Chicago is all but guaranteed.
Bohnsack described a conversation with Congressman Phil Hare saying, “Congressman Hare said that, you know, it’s gonna happen. He said I got this money. I went up to Oberstar (meaning Minnesota Congressman Jim Oberstar who heads the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee) with a note saying, and he said, before I got to Oberstar he said, it’s gonna happen. We’re gonna get you the money. It’s gonna be there. So I would say, 99 percent that rail system is gonna happen from here to Chicago.”
Filed under: Amtrak, Passenger Rail Transportatio Policy, Regional USA Passenger Rail
Trains For America 
This actually makes a lot of sense because a lot of Chicagoans send their kids to Iowa and this would allow them to get home without a car. I know when I lived in Iowa City I could of used this train.
Is building High-Speed Rail (HSR) really worth it?
Well, according to our new Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, he’s quoted as saying “Yes, I do, Profoundly.” He goes on to call it a transformational initiative, on par with building the great interstate highway and airline systems, we enjoy. (http://transportation.nationaljournal.com/2009/03/is-highspeed-rail-worth-it.php)
The NE corridor gets it, VP Biden gets it, and so does the Pacific Northwest.
Washington and Oregon, through our own DOT’s have been deploying HSR along the Cascade Corridor between Eugene, OR and Canada since 1999. Tilt trains, capable of 125 mph, have been gradually defining a market share and offering an alternative to driving or flying. Results so far are impressive – trains carry many more travelers between Seattle and Portland than do airlines, using half the fuel and producing half the pollution per passenger mile at a lower cost. This is an amazing statistic, considering our fast trains are still limited to just 79 mph for lack of federally mandated safety, signal and track improvements.
We look forward to working with Sec. LaHood to offer America an additional option for travel, while reducing our needs for imported oil and polluting our atmosphere less.
Mike Skehan, All Aboard Washington
There is one know it all Knuckehead that livs in Cedar Rapids that is anti Amtrak. Through in a couple of more years, the NRHS Convention will be in his hometown. if he was smart, he and his Wife will be out of town. It is rather missible to make progress when Conservative Guys like him try to interven.
Through. what was his views when IA Pass the 70 MPH on the Intertate. and passing where Gays and Lisbeans may get married.
to each-other. that is wired Iowa for you.