Illinois Rail Plan

The 2012 Illinois State Rail Plan provides a long range investment program framework for meeting the various needs of passenger and freight rail within Illinois and establishes a vision for future rail service.

The Illinois Rail Plan, as a coordinated part of the overall Illinois State Transportation Plan, explores the current passenger and freight rail infrastructure, recommending ways the system can be improved, new possible routes, and what IDOT can do to further connections between rail and other modes of transportation.

The primary goal of the Illinois State Rail Plan is to create a vision describing the role of passenger rail and freight services in Illinois and illustrate what these services will look like in the future. For the purposes of the Plan, rail services include rail freight carrier services, Amtrak services, intercity high-speed rail services and urban rail commuter services all of which were inventoried and evaluated during the development of the Plan, and individual profiles were provided on all major rail service providers. The Plan identifies anticipated trends, needs and issues that will affect rail service and demand over the next two or three decades. It also provides a long range investment program framework for meeting the various needs of rail passenger and freight services within the State.