Downstate Leaders: No Amtrak Cuts

A group of downstate political leaders is urging Governor Bruce Rauner to backtrack on proposed cuts to Amtrak.

Last year, Illinois paid Amtrak $42 million to support service between Chicago and the rest of the state. That would be cut to $26 million under Rauner's proposal.

Amtrak Board member Tom Carper was among a bipartisan group of politicians calling on Rauner to fully fund passenger rail. Carper, a former mayor of Macomb, says the rail service hires a lot of people and spends a lot of money in Illinois.

"If there were ways to do it cheaper than the cost that was there last year, it would have already have been done," he said.

Carper refuses to speculate on what cuts would look like, but the Midwest High Speed Rail Association isn't as shy. It predicts significant service reductions on routes across Illinois.