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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, Ridership on Amtrak is increasing rapidly
3 throughout the United States and at Chicago's Union Station;
4 and
 
5     WHEREAS, Chicago's Union Station is the hub of Amtrak's
6 nationwide network; and
 
7     WHEREAS, Chicago's Union Station currently serves over
8 three million Amtrak passengers and over 30 million Metra
9 passengers annually; and
 
10     WHEREAS, The entire facility was redesigned in 1989 in a
11 way that forces all passengers into waiting rooms that do not
12 have adequate capacity and leaves the Great Hall largely empty;
13 and
 
14     WHEREAS, The passenger waiting facilities are overcrowded,
15 creating an uncomfortable experience for passengers; and
 
16     WHEREAS, The ticket counters are poorly placed and often
17 overcrowded, with no room for expansion; and
 
18     WHEREAS, The Great Hall is an architectural gem with marble
19 floors and walls, long Corinthian columns, and a 112 foot tall

 

 

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1 vaulted skylight; and
 
2     WHEREAS, The Great Hall is best used as a passenger waiting
3 facility, as originally designed; and
 
4     WHEREAS, The current owner of Chicago's Union Station,
5 Chicago Union Station Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of the
6 National Railroad Passenger Company (Amtrak), is engaged in the
7 beginning stages of a redevelopment of the station; and
 
8     WHEREAS, There remains a risk that the Great Hall might be
9 converted to retail space in a manner that renders it unusable
10 for train passengers; and
 
11     WHEREAS, Current redevelopment plans call for construction
12 of a new passenger waiting facility, at substantial cost for
13 which no funding exists; and
 
14     WHEREAS, An ideal passenger waiting facility already
15 exists in the Great Hall; therefore, be it
 
16     RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FIFTH GENERAL
17 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we call on Amtrak to
18 retain the Great Hall as a passenger waiting and ticketing
19 area, so Chicago Union Station will serve as an attractive,
20 convenient hub for a growing and dynamic nationwide passenger

 

 

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1 train service network.