Amtrak says that its passenger numbers in Illinois fell to about 1.3 million in the latest fiscal year, or a decline of about 4 percent. The Springfield State Journal-Register reports that the passenger rail service attributes the drop to low gasoline prices and high-speed rail construction between Chicago and Saint Louis. The construction forced periodic use of chartered buses on the route. The fiscal year ended September 30th. About 682,000 passengers rode between Chicago and Saint Louis. That’s down 5 percent. Ridership fell 4 percent on the Chicago and Carbondale route and the Chicago-Quincy route saw a 2 percent decline in ridership. Work on the $1.8 billion high-speed rail project is scheduled to resume in the spring.