Comment on Illinois bicentennial: State's long romance with trains endures

• Editor’s note: The Illinois bicentennial series is brought to you by the Illinois Associated Press Media Editors and Illinois Press Association. More than 20 newspapers are creating stories about the state’s history, places and key moments in advance of the bicentennial Dec. 3. Stories published up to this date can be found at 200illinois.com. Trains brought Abraham Lincoln’s body home to Illinois, transported southern blacks escaping Jim Crow laws to Chicago and now carry a labor force of thousands between the suburbs and downtown Chicago daily. Freight, passenger and commuter trains pass through the Chicago area at the rate of 1,300 a day, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation, and rail lines fan out in every direction. “People in Illinois are as intimately tied to railroading as anywhere in the country,” DePaul University transportation professor Joseph Schwieterman said.