Daily Herald opinion: Not dead after all: Happy to see new burst of energy for Chicago-to-Rockford rail line
If we had a nickel for every time somebody asked over the last few years, “So what’s happening with the plan to restart passenger rail service between Chicago and Rockford?” we’d have a lot of nickels and no train tickets to spend them on.
Since 2023, when Gov. JB Pritzker announced that rail service would resume by 2025 between Chicago and Illinois’ fifth-largest city, it has been eagerly awaited and sometimes despaired of, primarily in McHenry, Boone and Winnebago counties, as well as Elgin.
This week, the project simultaneously took a step forward and one back, but we’re pleased to see that it hasn’t been dead after all, just delayed.
The step forward is Pritzker’s $50 billion infrastructure announcement that includes $270 million for Chicago-Rockford — train stations, improved grade crossings, upgraded bridges and double tracking in places — and a tentative launch date of passenger service in late 2027.
The step back is that the slow pace of the project seems to have cost it a valuable asset, the village of Huntley. Huntley announced this week it is pulling out of the plan to be one of only two station stops along the line between Elgin and Rockford (Belvidere being the other). Huntley has its reasons: the seemingly glacial pace of the project made it hard to formulate internal plans; the money the village has already invested and what it might be called on to contribute in the future; and worries about the station’s effects on traffic and parking.
It’s too bad they have pulled out, since Huntley and its particularly charming downtown always seemed an excellent location to host an anticipated 200 to 300 commuters daily from the growing areas of McHenry and northern Kane counties. While it’s likely another McHenry County community would be willing to host a station (Marengo?) maybe Huntley could be approached again in the future.
Officials working on the Chicago-to-Rockford project swear the loss of Huntley won’t deter the line from being completed. The approximately 90-mile one-way ride from Union Station to the Rockford terminal at Cedar and Church streets will take slightly less than two hours, with intermediate stops at Big Timber Road in Elgin, McHenry County, and Belvidere.
Why should we cheer the return of rail service between Chicago and Rockford, which has been gone since Amtrak ended its “Black Hawk” service between Chicago and Dubuque, Iowa, in 1981?
Besides the environmental and safety benefits of getting people out of their cars, efficient public transit has always been documented to bring with it a host of other benefits, many of them economic. Passenger routes and train stations draw people, and people draw business. As well, existing properties near commuter rail stations often experience an increase in value since they have improved access to transportation. Rail systems can be upgraded or expanded to meet growing demand, and they partner neatly with other forms of public transit, from bike-sharing to small commuter buses.
Not to mention that Rockford has an airport.
Northeast Illinois and the Chicago region were built on rail — a hub and spoke system that has indelibly tied the city to its suburbs and vice versa for the entirety of our existence. The symbiosis helps the region keep working through good times and bad, for residents and businesses alike. Expanding that to Rockford can only be good for everybody.