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| 1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| 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
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| 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
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| 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
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| 18 | WHEREAS, The morning eastbound and evening westbound | ||||||
| 19 | Illinois Zephyr trains have operated since November 4, 1971; | ||||||
| 20 | and
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| 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
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| 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
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| 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
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| 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
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| 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
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| 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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