Black Hawk (Amtrak)

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For other uses, see Black Hawk.
Black Hawk
Info
Type Inter-city rail
System Amtrak
Status Closed
Terminals Chicago, Illinois
Dubuque, Iowa
Operation
Opened 1974
Closed 1981
Owner Illinois Central Railroad (track)
Operator(s) Amtrak
Technical
Line length 182 miles (293 km)
Gauge 4 ft 8½ in (1,435 mm)
Line map
Distance Station
KBFa
0 Chicago
HST
18 miles (29 km) Elmhurst
BHF
85 miles (137 km) Rockford
HST
113 miles (182 km) Freeport
HST
138 miles (222 km) Warren
HST
164 miles (264 km) Galena
HST
180 miles (290 km) East Dubuque
eGRENZE
Illinois/Iowa border
KBFe
182 miles (293 km) Dubuque

The Black Hawk was an Amtrak route from Chicago, Illinois, to Dubuque, Iowa, using Budd Company rail diesel cars between 1974 and approximately 1978 when the RDCs were replaced with Amfleet equipment using EMD F40PH diesel locomotives. Service ended in 1981, a victim of budget cuts under the Reagan administration.[1]

The route used the former Gulf, Mobile and Ohio Railroad route (then part of the Illinois Central Railroad) between Chicago's Union Station and Bridgeport and the Freeport Subdivision west of Bridgeport.[2]

Amtrak, at the state of Illinois' request, did a recent feasibility study to reinstate the Black Hawk route to Rockford and Dubuque. Initial capital costs range from $32 million to $55 million, depending on the route. Once in operation, the service would require roughly $5 million a year in subsidies from the state.[3]

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Solomons (2004), 56, 152.
  2. ^ Solomons (2004), 44.
  3. ^ AMTRAK-ILLINOIS DOT FEASIBILITY STUDY DETERMINES MOST DIRECT ROUTE BEST FOR SERVICE TO ROCKFORD, NORTHWESTERN ILLINOIS AND DUBUQUE, IOWA. Amtrak (May 16, 2007). Retrieved on 2008-05-02.

[edit] References


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