The Director of the Iowa Department of Transportation, Nancy Richardson, has asked AMTRAK to study the feasibility of rail passenger service between Iowa City and Des Moines. On April 3, 2007, Director Richardson asked AMTRAK to prepare a feasibility study of service between the Quad Cities and Iowa City. AMTRAK is already doing a study for the state of Illinois of resumed operations between Chicago and the Quad Cities. There is a major push in Illinois to improve existing service and to expand rail passenger. See, Illinois Climate Change Advisory Group report on rail passenger. Any service would be on Iowa Interstate Railroad, which operates on the former Rock Island main line between Chicago and Council Bluffs-Omaha.
In her letter dated July 16, 2007, Director Richardson writes, ". . . I do not want to impact in any negative way the scope and schedule of the Quad Cities and Iowa City portion of the study. Nonetheless, the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) strongly supports and there is considerable interest in Iowa for , expanding the study of the feasibility of extending Amtrak's service to Des Moines."
The recently concluded 2007 session of the Iowa General Assembly authorized the state of Iowa to join the Midwest Interstate Passenger Rail Commission, and Governor Chet Culver approved the legislation. MIRPC is working to create a rail passenger system based upon the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative (MRRI).
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