BNSF and the State of Illinois have reached a preliminary agreement on how to spend $45 million in state funds to upgrade the rail network at Galesburg, Ill., to help passenger and freight trains operate efficiently on the shared track system, The Journal of Commerce reports.

George Weber, acting deputy director for public and intermodal transportation within the Illinois Department of Transportation, said the agreement should be finalized within 30 days, setting the stage for construction to get under way next spring.

Already, BNSF tracks carry two daily passenger trains through Galesburg from Chicago to the Mississippi River town of Quincy. They also carry two more long-distance Amtrak trains from Chicago bound for Los Angeles and Denver.

But the Chicago-Quincy traffic is on a single-track main line, and BNSF has a major rail yard in Galesburg for freight operations that passenger trains move through as well. In return for running passenger service on the freight carrier's system, Illinois committed to paying for some infrastructure improvements that will make it easier to keep both types of train service running on time without getting in each other's way.

Weber said the money will pay for three track additions at Galesburg, including two "staging tracks" that are each roughly a mile long, where BNSF could line up freight cars loaded with coal or other cargo while it keeps the mainline open for both passenger and freight trains to pass through.

The Chicago-Quincy passenger service averages about 60 mph, Weber said, and has a top speed of 79 mph. That makes it the fastest passenger rail corridor in the state until Illinois can begin a 110-mph Amtrak service on Union Pacific tracks between Chicago and St. Louis. That project is already under construction.

Weber said that in 2006 Illinois doubled its passenger train frequency from one to two a day between Chicago and Quincy in return for pledging to invest in a future upgrade project with BNSF. This new agreement fulfills that pledge, he said, by paying for work that makes the BNSF network at Galesburg more fluid and able to accommodate future growth without slowing passenger or freight trains.