Owned by City of Rockford Structure type Brick Bicycle facilities Yes Platforms in use 1 | Line(s) Amtrak:
Black Hawk Parking Yes Opened 1890 Tracks 1 | |
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Location 501 South Main Street
Rockford, Illinois Similar Mendota station, Plano station, La Grange Road station, Naperville station, Glenview station | ||
Rockford station is a proposed railroad station in Rockford, Illinois. Planned to serve a new Amtrak corridor running from Chicago to Dubuque, Iowa, it was initially scheduled to be in place by 2015. The route will run on the same tracks the former Black Hawk line used from 1974-1981. The station's construction was intended to start in 2012 just south of downtown Rockford along Illinois Route 2. The city of Rockford received $3 million from the state of Illinois in January 2012. Currently, the city of Rockford is seeking the rest of the $12 million needed to move the project forward. On September 28, 2012, the city of Rockford and the Rockford Mass Transit District (RMTD) submitted a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to start the design work for the station. The project is, again, postponed due to the Illinois Government suspending all unnecessary expenditures pending review.
New proposal
On April 10, 2014, It was announced that Rockford would become the terminus for the Black Hawk route for the immediate future with a new proposal for a temporary Amtrak station on 7th street in Rockford. This plan was proposed following the inability to negotiate a track upgrade budget with the Canadian National Railway, which owns the tracks the former station proposal would have used. When the state negotiates a deal with the CN to eventually get the route extended to Dubuque, IA, the permanent station will be built on South Main Street.
In July 2014 the city announced plans for a temporary platform at South Main and Cedar, on the west side of the Rock River. A second Amtrak station in Rockford was proposed along Alpine Road, but was never built.