Full Service to be Restored on Quincy-Chicago Corridor

A transfer of locomotives from within the Amtrak network will restore complete service to the twice-daily corridor between Quincy, Ill., and Chicago, operated by Amtrak under a contract with the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT).

Effective this Saturday, Aug. 10, Amtrak Carl Sandburg Trains 381 & 382 will operate the full route. Amtrak had chartered buses along the route since last week. Sen. Dick Durbin had reached out to Amtrak to accelerate service restoration.

This temporary service suspension is the result of a shortage of available state-owned locomotives. Amtrak is working closely with IDOT and the manufacturer to encourage streamlining of the process for making repairs to bring more of that fleet back into service.

Part of the Amtrak Midwest network, Train 381 is the morning departure from Chicago, and Train 382 is the evening departure from Quincy. Amtrak Illinois Zephyr Trains 380 & 383 continue to operate on this route and serve the same communities. Train 380 departs from Quincy in the morning, and Train 383 departs from Chicago in the evening.

In addition to Quincy and Chicago, other Illinois communities along this route are Macomb, Galesburg, Kewanee, Princeton, Mendota, Plano, Naperville and La Grange. Additional Amtrak trains serve Galesburg, Princeton, Mendota and Naperville.

-via Press Release

Plan to Provide $460M to Modernize Washington Metro, Transform Regional Transit

The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) boards jointly endorsed recommendations from the DMVMoves Task Force and called on regional leaders to advance funding solutions to support Metro’s long-term modernization and strengthen coordination among the region’s 14 transit operators, including Metro, MARC, VRE, and local bus systems.

Norfolk Southern Shareholders Approve Transaction with Union Pacific

Norfolk Southern Corporation today announced that its shareholders voted overwhelmingly, with nearly 99% of the shares cast in favor, to approve its previously announced transaction with Union Pacific at the company’s Special Meeting of Shareholders (the “Special Meeting”) held earlier today.