Full Text of HR0529 102nd General Assembly
HR0529 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The U.S. Congress passed a law that transferred | 3 | | the requirement of the railroads to operate passenger trains | 4 | | to the federally-owned National Railroad Passenger Corporation | 5 | | in 1970; and
| 6 | | WHEREAS, When the U.S. Department of Transportation drew | 7 | | maps defining where these Amtrak trains would go, they did not | 8 | | include local service in Illinois between Quincy and Chicago, | 9 | | which included Macomb, Galesburg, Kewanee, Princeton, Mendota, | 10 | | Plano, and the Chicago suburbs, and the service ended on May | 11 | | 11, 1971; and
| 12 | | WHEREAS, When interested parties in Macomb and Quincy lost | 13 | | their fight against the law in federal court, they then asked | 14 | | the State of Illinois to sponsor the service, worked with | 15 | | communities along the route, and convinced the Illinois | 16 | | General Assembly and Governor to sponsor daily local Amtrak | 17 | | service under the Illinois Department of Transportation; and
| 18 | | WHEREAS, The morning eastbound and evening westbound | 19 | | Illinois Zephyr trains have operated since November 4, 1971; | 20 | | and
| 21 | | WHEREAS, This region of Illinois has benefited from being |
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| 1 | | the longest continuously operated state-supported train in the | 2 | | Amtrak network for 50 years; and
| 3 | | WHEREAS, These same communities banded together to create | 4 | | the Amtrak Carl Sandberg train in 2006, with departures | 5 | | westbound in the morning and eastbound in the evening, | 6 | | doubling local service on the route; this route is marking its | 7 | | 15th anniversary this year; therefore, be it
| 8 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | 9 | | HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 10 | | we declare November 3, 2021 as Amtrak Anniversary Day in the | 11 | | State of Illinois; and be it further
| 12 | | RESOLVED, That we recognize the work in 1971 and again in | 13 | | 2006 that resulted in this region of Illinois having vital | 14 | | passenger train connections to and from Chicago and cities in | 15 | | Western and North-Central Illinois; and be it further
| 16 | | RESOLVED, That we urge the cities on the route to continue | 17 | | to work with each other, Amtrak, the Illinois Department of | 18 | | Transportation, and others to maintain and improve the local | 19 | | Amtrak service that is such an asset to the communities it | 20 | | serves; and be it further
| 21 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be |
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| 1 | | presented to the mayors of Quincy, Macomb, Galesburg, Kewanee, | 2 | | Princeton, Mendota, Plano, Naperville, and LaGrange.
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