Trains an attractive idea again

Gail Halloran
Writers' Group

A train trip from Iowa City into Chicago seems like such an attractive idea. It offers the romance of train travel mixed with the relaxation of being a passenger, instead of the frustration of being a driver over boring and congested freeways. It also provides the satisfaction of being a green option in this age of global warming. Let's face it, the price of oil is not going down anytime soon. I say taking the train is an idea whose time has come, again.

I spent many years living in and around San Francisco, where transportation was managed as a regional issue. Even out in the most distant suburbs there usually was a reasonable way to get into the city, not only for work but also for the restaurants, theaters, shopping and sight-seeing. When meeting friends or showing visitors around, life was much easier if you could make it into town without a car to drive or park.

Now that I live in Iowa City, I see our closeness to Chicago, Minneapolis, St. Louis -- even Kansas City -- as tantalizing yet tormenting. If only we had transporters like on Star Trek, I've often thought, I'd gladly check out a museum or a ball game in any of these metropolises. But I just don't want to go through the long drive to get there and back.

And I know I'm not the only local who feels that way. I just spoke to a friend who said he'd go to Chicago several times a year if there were a viable transportation alternative to driving. Right now, the most likely alternative is a five-hour bus ride through particularly unattractive parts of Illinois seen from roads and freeways. Or, you can drive to Mount Pleasant and take the California Zephyr train, but because that route originates in California, it can be anywhere from seven to 10 hours late arriving.

That's a little too unpredictable for most travelers.

Last year, I did a couple of cross-country car trips with my sister as she moved from South Carolina to Michigan. On one of those drives, we stopped in Jackson, Mich., outside of Detroit, to visit family. Afterwards, I hopped the train to Iowa while my sister continued north to her new home. I left Jackson at 9 a.m. Eastern time and arrived in Chicago at noon Central time, a four-hour trip. I had a layover to eat lunch and marvel at the gracious, historic Great Hall of Amtrak's Union Station, then boarded my train at 2 p.m. and arrived in Mount Pleasant at 6 p.m.

The whole trip was absolutely delightful as we traveled through the Midwest countryside east of Chicago and saw many gentrified neighborhoods and renovated suburban train stations moving west out of Chicago. I chatted with a grandmother taking her two grandsons back to Iowa for a summer vacation; a traditional pilgrimage I'm sure has been made by generations of urban youth. We crossed the majestic Mississippi and wound through a patchwork of farm fields tall with corn, green leaves waving as if to friends as we passed. After my cross-country car ride, I felt like I'd escaped purgatory and finally found my way to heaven.

So, we need to move forward with the recently proposed rail line from Iowa City to Chicago. The fact that I boarded my train near the original departure point for each leg of my journey last year seemed key to the trains being on time and my connections occurring smoothly. The suggested route through the Quad Cities appears concise enough to allow for punctual service, an important feature to making the plan work.

Who knows? If this initial project succeeds, we may find the momentum to finally build the badly needed rail service between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. People up and down the Eastern Iowa Corridor not only would have easier access to their jobs, particularly in the harsh winter months like we experienced this last year but comfortable and pleasurable access to Chicago.

Why, before you know it, we'll be taking the train to Minneapolis, St. Louis and maybe even Kansas City! The improved quality of life will have our brain drain slowed in no time at all, as people flock to Iowa to build their businesses, and our college graduates and native-born folks find ample, good-paying jobs.

Anyone who has lived long enough knows that eventually everything comes back into style, so why not trains? Grandmothers everywhere will be sending up prayers of thanks for how easily they can see their kids and grandkids. And who wouldn't want the childhood memory of visiting grandma on the train?