Public Involvement + Strategic Communications + Planning

For over a decade, the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) has pursued improvements to passenger rail service between Chicago and St. Louis. The Chicago to St. Louis Corridor is part of the Midwest Regional Rail System plan to develop and implement a 21st-Century regional passenger rail system. With a project like this, IDOT needed a team of strategic communication professionals – enter, Images, Inc.

We led the High-Speed Rail branding and awareness campaign since its inception in 2010, putting forth a new image to fit the modern age of rail travel. Through our research, we identified that safety was a key concern for the public. Our campaign successfully raised awareness about the safety and efficiency of High-Speed Rail. Most of our constituents—even those directly along the route—had no idea that most of the upgrades were safety improvements, including enhanced crossings with pedestrian and four-quadrant gates and an improved signal system. Once we developed and implemented a creative and effective brand and campaign, the stakeholders began to have a better understanding of the goals of the program and more realistic expectations of timeframes and end results as well as enthusiasm for the entire project. We developed and held training workshops for Amtrak employees to improve service at all levels. In addition, we participate in hundreds of community outreach events promoting High-Speed Rail and railroad safety. We developed curriculum on rail safety for school kids k-12 and presented it to thousands of students. We managed social media, a project website, marketing promotions, rail-car branding, station upgrades, comment management, construction updates and coordination, locomotive and rail car rollouts as well as extensive community and business outreach.