Full Text of HR0539 102nd General Assembly
HR0539 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 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
| 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
| 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
| 18 | | WHEREAS, The morning eastbound and evening westbound | 19 | | Illinois Zephyr trains have operated since November 4, 1971; | 20 | | and
| 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
| 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
| 8 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | 9 | | HUNDRED SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 10 | | we congratulate these communities on the work in 1971 and | 11 | | again in 2006 that resulted in this region of Illinois having | 12 | | vital passenger train connections to and from Chicago and | 13 | | cities in Western and North-Central Illinois; and be it | 14 | | further
| 15 | | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | 16 | | presented to the mayors of Quincy, Macomb, Galesburg, Kewanee, | 17 | | Princeton, Mendota, Plano, Naperville, and LaGrange.
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