Rail Travel Up With New Chicago Train

Passenger travel increased on Amtrak between Carbondale and Chicago since a third route began last fall. The numbers are up 68 percent for November, December and January over the same time period last year.

The Association Press has the story.

Although the vast majority of travel on the old Illinois Central track from Carbondale to Chicago is Windy City-bound, there is a small segment of inter-city travel just here in Southern Illinois.

I was just told today about a couple from Marion who took the train from Carbondale to Centralia for dinner at the Centralia House restaurant, a historic eatery that catered to both Lincoln and Douglas prior to the Civil War when then Illinois Central was the only railroad in the state.

They took the 4 o'clock train up and the 8 o'clock train back.