Illinois politicians have been promising to restore passenger train service to Rockford for nearly a quarter century.
In 2002, then-candidate Rod Blagojevich pledged to bring passenger rail back to Rockford when elected Governor. I don’t need to tell you that the pledge was not fulfilled.
In 2010, Governor Pat Quinn visited Rockford to announce $60 million in state capital funds to re-establish passenger rail service between Chicago and Rockford. In 2012, Quinn allocated an additional $3 million to design and engineer a new multi-modal station near downtown Rockford. Then in 2014, Quinn announced a $223 million project to bring Amtrak back to Rockford…