Legislative Session Ends With Little Progress on IC-Chicago Rail Link

A passenger rail line from Iowa City to Chicago isn't dead, but it's not much closer to becoming reality than it was at the beginning of this year's legislative session.

The federal government is offering Iowa and Illinois more than $200 million for the rail project, but the states have to put up their own money in order to receive that federal money. Former Gov. Chet Culver and Democratic legislators had supported the project, but Gov. Terry Branstad and Republicans have been hesitant to spend the money, even though the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce -- one of the leading proponents of the project -- says the project will more than pay for itself with economic stimulus.

When the Iowa legislative session ended last week, lawmakers made a deal to retain $5 million of previously committed funds for the project, according to the Quad City Times.

“It’s hanging by a thread,” Sen. Jeff Danielson, D-Cedar Falls, told the Times.

Liberal blog Bleeding Heartland says the Republicans' opposition to the rail is purely political: "I suspect that when Governor Chet Culver went all in for passenger rail, Iowa Republicans decided that whatever a Democrat was for must be bad. In addition, a rail link from Chicago to Iowa City through the Quad Cities would mostly benefit residents of Democratic-held Iowa House and Senate districts."

But Republicans continue to point to the cost of the project. A Daily Iowan report from a couple years ago says the vast majority of Amtrak lines operate at a loss.