Feds give Illinois $177 million to connect Chicago to Quad Cities

The Federal Railroad Administration gave more than $177 million to the Illinois Department of Transportation for a passenger rail project that will operate twice daily round-trip service between Chicago and the Quad Cities and put nearly 2,000 Americans back to work this spring.

The start of twice daily round-trip service between Chicago and the Quad Cities, with intermediate stops at Geneseo, Princeton, Mendota, and Plano, Ill., will be made possible by infrastructure improvements including, a new station at Geneseo, a layover facility in the Quad Cities area, communication and signaling improvements and the purchase of new passenger rail equipment.

The introduction of next-generation American-made trains, funded as part of previously announced grants totaling $782 million, will help reinvigorate domestic manufacturing. States will purchase 36 quick-acceleration locomotives and 130 bi-level passenger cars to operate in Illinois as well as Indiana, Michigan, Iowa, Missouri, California, Washington and Oregon.