Amtrak Back Up And Running From Homewood Stop To Champaign, Southward

HOMEWOOD, IL — Homewood and Amtrak officials on Monday celebrated the restoration of full Amtrak service out of the Park Avenue station, including the reestablishment of on-site ticketing by Amtrak Customer Service Representatives in this important south-suburban community with a rich railroad history.

Early this year, Amtrak had to suspend one of the two daily Amtrak Illini and Saluki round-trips between Chicago and Carbondale, via Champaign, Mattoon and other stops. Now, all of these trains are available for booking and are operating through Homewood. Amtrak provides this service under a contract with the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Also, effective last month, Amtrak completed remodeling of the ticketing area inside the historic Homewood station and has begun staffing it daily for ticketing and other customer service functions for the Illini/Saluki trains and daily Amtrak City of New Orleans trains to and from Chicago and their namesake city.

In June, Amtrak completed a $15 million project at Homewood to improve the station and make it compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act, the largest investment of its kind that fiscal year at a station now offering three daily Amtrak trains between Chicago and points south, the Village said in a release.