DERAILING THE TRAINS. Amtrak to Dubuque, Metra to Rockford, one route or two?

Rockford area officials pushing to bring commuter train service Metra to Winnebago County are using Amtrak to help deliver the service – and their efforts threaten to derail DeKalb County's bid for passenger rail service.

The Illinois Department of Transportation is seeking to restore Amtrak service from Chicago to Dubuque, Iowa, by way of Rockford. Two routes are being considered: One would follow the Canadian National rail line and make a stop in Genoa, while the other would utilize a northern route along the Union Pacific rail line and stop in Belvidere.

A 2007 Amtrak study looked at four routes and found that using the Canadian National rail line through Genoa would be the fastest and had the greatest potential ridership. At $32.3 million to get it in shape, it's estimated to be $11.5 million less than going through Belvidere, with an annual operating expense $300,000 less than the northern route.

Stephen Ernst, executive director of the Rockford Metropolitan Agency for Planning, argues that the Amtrak study is skewed to some extent because the cost estimates for the Belvidere route includes $8.7 million in contingencies, while the Genoa route includes none. He said IDOT officials told him that's because they already negotiated the cost with Canadian National.

DeKalb County officials were caught off guard in April when an IDOT official reportedly said the Belvidere route had been chosen.

While the politicians haggle over these details, the infrastructure subsidies will be allocated elsewhere. We may see no trains at all.