Amtrak explores Wi-Fi in Illinois

SPRINGFIELD - Illinois Amtrak riders may soon be able to goonline when they get onboard.

While free Wi-Fi is common on passenger trains serving the eastand west coasts, Illinois officials are just now beginning toinvestigate bringing Internet service to the trains rolling acrossthe Land of Lincoln.

Bids on a proposal to study what it will take to install andmaintain broadband access in all of the passenger trainscrisscrossing the state are due in mid-June.

For Illinois riders, the only way to surf the Internet on trainsis to provide it for themselves via cellphones with Internetcapability or by plugging a broadband access card into a laptop.

But, based on its experience in the northeast U.S. and along theWest Coast, Amtrak says it's an amenity that should be offered toall riders, whether they are online for business or entertainmentpurposes.

Passengers on the Acela Express high-speed train connectingBoston and Washington, D.C., can go online through Amtrak's free Wi-Fi service.

Riders also can access the Internet aboard the Amtrak Cascades,which runs through Oregon and Washington, and the Coast Starlight,which runs through California.

The Downeaster, which connects Portland, Maine, and Boston, alsooffers broadband access.

On trains that offer the service, Amtrak is asking passengers torefrain from playing streaming video or downloading large files soother passengers aren't affected by a slowing of the service.

"Amtrak may restrict access to those individuals who are found tobe utilizing high levels of bandwidth," the company's website notes."Amtrak will also restrict access to some websites deemed to havequestionable content."

Amtrak spokesman Marc Magliari said Amtrak hopes to install asystem where limits on downloading aren't a concern.

A cost estimate for the project in Illinois was not availableThursday. In other states, some of the expenses are being offset byads that appear on the login page of the service, Magliari said.

The Illinois Department of Transportation, which is overseeingthe proposal, is expected to have a blueprint for moving forward ina few weeks.

"Once we get the data from each of the potential vendors, we'lldetermine what's feasible and what an appropriate timeframe would befor that to be in place," said IDOT spokesman Josh Kauffman.