Manzullo asks for Amtrak stop in McHenry County

Huntley leaders gained a high-profile ally Thursday in their effort to build a new commuter rail station in the village.

Congressman Don Manzullo, a Republican from Egan, called on Amtrak and Gov. Pat Quinn to include McHenry County in their plans to expand Amtrak service from Chicago to Dubuque, Iowa.

In a letter to Quinn, Manzullo specifically asked for an Amtrak stop in Huntley or Marengo, both in McHenry County.

"Establishing a stop in McHenry County will help increase Amtrak ridership and secure the route's viability while providing tremendous benefits for businesses, tourism and quality of life in one of the fastest-growing collar counties of Chicago," Manzullo said in a statement.

While Huntley is not a major destination, Manzullo and village officials said building an Amtrak station in Huntley could help the village get the new Metra station village leaders have been clamoring for for years.

"The point is that it will be rail traffic coming through, and the railroad would be set up to share for a commuter station at a later date," Huntley Trustee Harry Leopold said Thursday.

Huntley Village President Chuck Sass and Marengo Mayor Donald Lockhart both penned letters to Manzullo expressing their interest in hosting a new Amtrak stop.

Huntley leaders are hoping Manzullo's appeal will help push transportation officials to give greater consideration to siting a new Metra or Amtrak station in the village.

"You have to have somebody sponsoring it," Leopold said. "Local political leaders ... are just sort of ignored by the planners at the federal level unless you have someone of the stature of a Congressman Manzullo who is bringing attention to it."

The Amtrak expansion was included in the state's capital projects bill, and plans call for Amtrak to expand from Elgin's Big Timber station through McHenry, Boone, Winnebago, Stephenson and Jo Daviess counties before stretching into Iowa.

Quinn has already announced stops in Belvidere, Rockford, Galena and Freeport as part of the expansion slated to be completed by 2012.

Huntley officials have identified Coyne Station Road and Kreutzer Road, where they intersect the existing Union Pacific tracks, as possible sites for a new Metra station, although the future of the Coyne Station site is uncertain because of pending foreclosure proceedings.