Quad Cities (train)

The Quad City Rocket is a planned Amtrak intercity rail train that will operate in Illinois between Chicago and Moline. It will be a part of the "Illinois Service". This train will follow the routing of "Carl Sandburg" and "Illinois Zephyr" to Princeton and will split off at Wyanet, Illinois, stopping at Geneseo and Moline using track from BNSF and the Iowa Interstate Railroad.
Background.
Originally, the Rock Island provided passenger service in the Quad Cities under the "Quad Cities Rocket" train. Passenger service to Chicago continued until December 31, 1978.
In 2008, United States Senators Tom Harkin and Chuck Grassley of Iowa and Dick Durbin and Barack Obama of Illinois sent a letter to Amtrak asking them to begin plans to bring rail service to the Quad Cities. In October 2010, a $230 million federal fund was announced that will bring Amtrak service to the Quad Cities, with a new line running from Moline to Chicago. They had hoped to have the line completed in 2015, and to offer two daily round trips to Chicago. In December 2011, the federal government awarded $177 million in funding for the Amtrak connection.
In 2015, Illinois Republican governor Bruce Rauner announced a spending freeze that placed both the proposed train service and the "Black Hawk" under review by the IDOT. After being on hold for over a year, IDOT moved forward with the project in order to prevent losing the $177 million in federal funding for the passenger service.
In July 2019, a new transportation bill was passed by the Illinois state legislature, supported by Governor J.B. Pritzker, $225M was appropriated to begin this service.