Illinois Zephyr - Overview

Overview

Service began on November 14, 1971, between Chicago and West Quincy, Missouri. Passenger service was cut back to Quincy, Illinois on May 1, 1994, after a major flood in 1993. The Illinois Zephyr and the Carl Sandburg trainsets continue to cross the Mississippi River to layover between runs.

The Illinois Zephyr is a descendant of the Kansas City Zephyr and American Royal Zephyr passenger train routes operated by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad until 1968 and 1971, respectively. The state of Illinois intervened in 1971 at the request of Quincy College (now Quincy University), Western Illinois University, and residents of western Illinois. This became part of the "Illinois Service" initiative in 1971 and is partially funded by the Illinois Department of Transportation. The Illinois Zephyr was never extended to either St. Louis or Kansas City from Quincy, Illinois. Amtrak's Southwest Chief already provided a Chicago-to-Kansas-City route, and the state of Missouri's "Missouri Service" only funded the extension of the Ann Rutledge to provide daily service between Kansas City and St. Louis with continuing services to Chicago via Springfield.

The name "Zephyr" is preserved in the current name of the line. Today the Illinois Zephyr enjoys strong support from the communities it passes through, and is one of the most successful Amtrak routes. The communities promote the train line as the fastest means of getting to downtown Chicago, and train tickets are frequently sold-out. As such, the route is part of the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative, which calls for an upgrade of service from the former 1 daily round trip to 4 or more daily round trips. The addition of the Carl Sandburg train on October 30, 2006, was the first step in this Midwest Regional Rail Initiative service upgrade. The scheduled travel time from Chicago to Quincy, via the Illinois Zephyr, has been 4 hours, 15 minutes.

During 2010, Amtrak contacted officials from communities in northeastern Missouri and western Illinois regarding the feasibility of extending the Illinois Zephyr, plus Carl Sandburg, southwards to Hannibal, Missouri and St. Louis. While a study for the expansion was not conducted, the project could be funded with a mix of federal and state money.