Dear Supporter, We have reached a landmark number of 1,000 supporters and some media coverage: http://q985online.com/petition-to-bring-a-metra-train-service-to-dekalb/ As promised, every signature and comment was delivered to NIU, DeKalb County Officials, and Metra. Today we have an update for you from DeKalb Country Board Chairman, Mr. Mark Pietrowski. In a previous study, Metra Railroad and Union Pacific determined a low feasibility for a passenger train station in the area, based on their cost evaluation and ridership surveys. Also, Metra and UP said a full third track between DeKalb and Elburn is needed due to a large number of freight trains passing through DeKalb. As of 02/24/2017, we haven’t received any official responses from the mentioned companies and so there is hope the petition will swing things around. The DeKalb County Board is very supportive of bringing public transportation back to town and is currently working together with NIU to organize a frequent regular shuttle bus service to Elburn. This can definitely be a good short-term solution, and chances are it will happen! Below is the full message from Mr. Pietrowski. For more details, please see his Facebook post and follow-up comments here: http://www.facebook.com/mark.pietrowski.1/posts/10104152089900659 More updates are coming soon! "I think it is great that there is a petition about residents and NIU students/employees wanting a metra rail stop in DeKalb County. When I ran for county board this issue wpuld come up and I have been supportive of finsing out how to get it done. As DeKalb County Board Chairman I organized a task force with representation from NIU, Sycamore, DeKalb, Cortland, the county and the two railroad companies involved. The representatives from the railroad said a third rail track would be needed and the cost would be in the hundred of millions. In a study they conducted it was also determined there were not enough riders in this area for what they would need, they are also about $11 billion in the hole for railroad maintence on existing tracks and said they would not be able to add passenger track. DeKalb County if interested would also need to join the RTA and have all residents pay that tax (this is one of the major reasons years ago there wasn't much support from the board for a route when there was an opportunity when Elburn route was being considered), there are also communities that have paid the RTA tax for years and do not have a track so they would be ahead of DeKalb County for getting a route they said. What some of those communities have done is use a shuttle bus system to get people to the train station. This is the solution we spoke about and DeKalb County donated land to VAC for an expanded facility and a park and ride bus shuttle system for the train. Unfortunately, VAC has been turned down several times for the Tiger Grant needed for the project. Senator Dick Durbin was amazed that we did not have a train stop since we are the only major public university in IL without one. I am glad there are many that want a train stop as I always have thought it would be a great economic boom for the area and DeKalb had passenger rail in the past. I am hopeful we can acheive more consistent shuttle bus, park and ride system for NIU students and residents. The train companies also said passenger rail is not profitable which is something else working against a future metra stop." DeKalb County Board Chairman, Mark Pietrowski