After more than four decades, the long-dormant passenger rail line between Chicago and Moline might finally be coming back to life.
Illinois’ new $1.5 billion statewide transit funding bill—best known for keeping the CTA, Metra and Pace afloat—contains a smaller but significant provision: $450 million earmarked to restore rail service between Chicago and the Quad Cities. This could change the game for Western Illinois travel and give Chicagoans an easy, scenic ride straight to one of the Midwest’s most underrated regions.
The proposed route would revive a service that last ran in 1978, when the famed Quad Cities Rocket rolled its final run on the Rock Island Railroad. Unlike most lines, Rock Island chose not to join Amtrak in 1971, effectively cutting off Moline and its neighbors from direct Chicago rail access. Since then, local officials and legislators have spent two decades trying to bring the trains back.
This new bill might finally get it done. State Representative Greg Johnson, speaking at a celebratory news conference in Moline’s brand-new downtown transit station, called the project a win for hospitality and tourism that will "help us attract more tourists to experience everything that makes the quad cities special." The sleek facility, already in use as a bus station and sitting just across from the Vibrant Arena, was built with this very moment in mind.
The $450 million allocation would help close the biggest gaps that have stalled the project for years, including a missing link between the BNSF and Iowa Interstate railways near Wyanet, Illinois, and the installation of positive train control technology on 53 miles of Iowa Interstate track. State Senator Mike Halpin says the agreements for engineering are already in place. “We reached that dollar figure and we believe it’s going to get done,” he said in an official statement.
Governor J.B. Pritzker is expected to sign the transit bill soon, kicking off what could still be a multi-year process before the first train departs Union Station for Moline. But for now, the mood in the Quad Cities is celebratory. “Today is a day for celebrating because we have secured funding for our train,” said Moline Mayor Sangeetha Rayapati.
Once the line is up and running, it’ll make a weekend getaway to the Quad Cities—Moline, Rock Island, Davenport and Bettendorf—easier than ever. Visitors can stroll along the Mississippi River in Davenport, explore the galleries and craft breweries in Rock Island’s artsy downtown or catch a concert at Moline’s Vibrant Arena.
If all goes as planned, this long-awaited rail revival won’t just reconnect Chicago and Moline, it’ll reconnect Illinoisans to one of the Midwest’s liveliest corners.