Full Service to be Restored on Quincy-Chicago Corridor

Carl Sandburg Trains 381 & 382 resume this Saturday, Aug. 10

CHICAGO – A transfer of locomotives from within the Amtrak network will restore complete service to the twice-daily corridor between Quincy, Ill., and Chicago, operated by Amtrak under a contract with the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT).

Effective this Saturday, Aug. 10, Amtrak Carl Sandburg Trains 381 & 382 will operate the full route. Amtrak had chartered buses along the route since last week. Sen. Dick Durbin had reached out to Amtrak to accelerate service restoration.

“While ensuring locomotives can receive proper, routine maintenance is essential, I’m relieved that Amtrak answered my call and is swiftly restoring full service for the Quincy-Chicago corridor,” said Durbin.

“We always appreciate the Senator’s strong interest in the performance of all our services in Illinois, said Amtrak CEO Stephen Gardner. “Amtrak will augment the locomotive pool for this service from our fleet to supplement the state-owned locomotives usually assigned to this route.”

This temporary service suspension is the result of a shortage of available state-owned locomotives. Amtrak is working closely with IDOT and the manufacturer to encourage streamlining of the process for making repairs to bring more of that fleet back into service.

Part of the Amtrak Midwest network, Train 381 is the morning departure from Chicago, and Train 382 is the evening departure from Quincy. Amtrak Illinois Zephyr Trains 380 & 383 continue to operate on this route and serve the same communities. Train 380 departs from Quincy in the morning, and Train 383 departs from Chicago in the evening.

In addition to Quincy and Chicago, other Illinois communities along this route are Macomb, Galesburg, Kewanee, Princeton, Mendota, Plano, Naperville and La Grange. Additional Amtrak trains serve Galesburg, Princeton, Mendota and Naperville.