IAISRailfans.org News From July 2005

News From July 2005

HAWKEYE EXPRESS RETURNS IN 2005

Posted Wednesday, July 27, 2005
The Ski Train will once again be returning to Iowa to serve as the Hawkeye Express - a passenger shuttle between Coralville and University of Iowa football games. However, citing losses last year, ticket prices will double this year to $10 round trip. See the article in today's Iowa City Press-Citizen. For handy reference, this year's home games will be 3-Sep, 17-Sep, 1-Oct, 15-Oct, 22-Oct, and 19-Nov-2005. - NDH

IAIS RECEIVES $32.7M RRIF LOAN

Posted Thursday, July 14, 2005
On 7-Jul-2005, IAIS announced that it had been approved for a 32.7 million dollar loan from the FRA's Railroad Infrastructure Fund (RRIF). From IAIS's press release:

"The funds will be used to upgrade and rehabilitate approximately 300 miles of track between Atlantic, Iowa and Bureau, Illinois. The end result will be a railroad capable of handling 286,000 pound loads and an operating speed of 40 MPH. The project will consist of bridge upgrades, siding work and extensions, 700,000 rail anchors, 5 miles of new rail, 183,000 crossties, road crossing repairs, and surfacing of 200,000 tons of ballast. Upon completion of the main project, rail grinding will be done on 40 miles of track," Miller said. (Dennis H. Miller is the President and CEO of IAIS.)

The press release can be found on IAIS's site under the News section, or here (warning, Word doc). - NDH