Chicago Hub Improvement Program: Transforming Chicago’s Passenger Rail Experience
UTC Spring 2026 Seminar Series
April 16, 2026
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
The April 2026 Seminar Series presentation will focus on Amtrak’s exciting plans to improve infrastructure both in and around Chicago's Union Station, with the goals of improving reliability, reducing travel time, and enhancing the customer experience.
Participants will learn how Amtrak is blending these projects with the vision of Midwest state departments of transportation to expand service in the future.
Date posted
Feb 26, 2026
Date updated
Mar 6, 2026
Speakers
Joe Shacter | Amtrak’s Director of Program Management for the Chicago Hub Improvement Program (CHIP). | Amtrak
Mr. Shacter oversees the billion-dollar portfolio of planned infrastructure improvement projects in and around Chicago that will reduce travel time and improve the reliability of Amtrak services. Joe works with the freight railroads to whose trackage the new infrastructure will connect, as well as with all other stakeholders, including federal and state government agencies. Joe joined Amtrak in 2015 following five years as rail/transit division director for Illinois DOT, overseeing the state’s capital and operating funding for passenger and freight rail projects, as well as transit services statewide. Prior to being appointed at IDOT, Joe spent several years as a clean transportation advocate at the Environmental Law and Policy Center in Chicago. For 12 years earlier in his career, Joe worked in the museum field, leading several major transportation projects at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry and then serving as president of the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. Joe simultaneously earned Master’s Degrees in Business Administration and Journalism from Northwestern University, and also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration from the University of Michigan.