City of DeKalb supports neighboring Amtrak feasibility study

DeKALB – City of DeKalb leaders decided to throw their support behind an effort to study the feasibility of reviving the Twin Cities Zephyr Amtrak route from Chicago to East Dubuque, which previously included a stop in DeKalb County.

At a recent public meeting, the DeKalb City Council voted in support of a nonbinding resolution affirming its commitment.

“It just shows some support for an ongoing conversation between folks west of us who are looking at some Amtrak passenger rail service that was once available to them up until the early ’70s and then went away,” City Manager Bill Nicklas said.

In December, city staff were approached by the Coalition to Revive Twin Cities Zephyr to solicit support for reinstating a passenger rail service by Amtrak to the Twin Cities, according to city documents.

Nicklas said he sees no harm in exploring the potential for a passenger rail service in town.

The previous Twin Cities Zephyr Amtrak route looped around the city of DeKalb, went to Genoa and then headed west to Savanna, officials said.

“It was a rail for freight and also for passengers,” Nicklas said.

Mayor Cohen Barnes said he stands behind the resolution that the City Council voted on.

“Supporting passenger rail as well as commuter rail, I think, increases our opportunity ... to get commuter rail,” Barnes said. “That’s why we’re supporting the Amtrak feasibility study that they’re doing.”

Barnes said the likelihood of the city having a passenger rail service is greater after getting a commuter rail.

“Ultimately, commuter rail is specifically designed for transporting people in and out of the city,” Barnes said. “Passenger rail is focused around transporting people over much longer distances – [you] take an Amtrak out to the West Coast. [Whereas with] the commuter rail, the extension is literally from DeKalb to Olgilvie Station in Chicago.”

Nicklas said that the time is now for the City Council to consider acting on this resolution.

“There’s quite a lot of discussion going on in communities between Chicago and the Mississippi River about how passenger rail might be reinstituted or expanded,” Nicklas said. “There’s a lot of jockeying that will occur in the next 10 years, but this just says we’re interested in passenger rail, particularly if it can go through the city of DeKalb. Rochelle would obviously be a beneficiary to it if that was the case.”

City staff said the effort to explore the feasibility of bringing a passenger rail service to town would not conflict with the process entered by the city and Northern Illinois University about a year ago to evaluate the potential for a commuter Metra rail.

The coalition has inquired with other municipalities in the 17th and 14th Congressional districts, according to city documents.

U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood, D-Sandwich, also was informed of the initiative, city staff said.