FREQUENCY, CONNECTIVITY, AND DEPENDABILITY.

That's the Magic Triangle of dependable transportation.  Legislative wishful thinking alone will not make it so.

Regional rail networks with high-frequency trains are vital to the future of regions throughout the country. Getting them soon requires that planning start now.

A bill currently in the Illinois Legislature advances frequent passenger rail service by directing the Illinois Department of Transportation to plan for hourly service, at minimum, in several strategic corridors. This legislation requires the Illinois Department of Transportation to incorporate these service frequency goals into the Illinois State Rail Plan and into the Long-Range Statewide Transportation Plan.

The release notes that small plans lead to small outcomes.

Unfortunately, railroad planners in the United States take the opposite tack. Planning for intercity passenger rail is usually directed by staff at state departments of transportation. They plan based on what seems plausible given current levels of legislative support and funding, along with past practices. The governing principle is to proceed cautiously, “testing” the market and building up frequency from there.

That might be what happens whenever government funds are involved.  Process is the bureaucrat's most important product.  But process with resources is better than wishful thinking without resources.

Yes, you can pass legislation that aspires to hourly trains between Chicago and St. Louis, and that's relatively cheap, but restoring the second track on the Alton Route and providing enough rolling stock to cover the additional trains (which often doesn't happen in foul weather) implies "future obligations".  Hourly service for Milwaukee with trains every two hours for Green Bay never happened, even before Interstate Highways 94-43-41 were in place, and pretending Wisconsin will come up with the money is a stretch.  Those hourly trains for Louisville?  Sell that to Indiana and Kentucky and come up with a value proposition for motorists.