Peoria council backs next step toward passenger rail to Chicago

The Peoria City Council on Tuesday approved the city’s part in the second step of a federal program that could eventually bring passenger rail service between Peoria and Chicago.^{1, 2} Council members John Kelly and Alex Carmona voted no.^{1, 2}

The vote covers Step 2 of the Federal Railroad Administration’s three-step Corridor Identification and Development Program, in which the project team drafts a service development plan.¹ Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who co-chairs the project’s advisory steering committee with Mayor Rita Ali, said the city has filed all the Step 2 paperwork it can and is waiting on federal approval before the work begins in earnest, 25 News Now reported.^{1, 2}

What it costs Peoria

Until now the project has been paid for by a federal grant, and Step 2 requires a 10% local match, according to 25 News Now.² The first part of Step 2 is expected to cost $1.7 million, so the participating local governments owe $170,000, City Manager Patrick Urich said, according to WCBU.¹ Peoria is paying about 38.5% of that because studies show it would have the most riders.^{1, 2}

With money left over from the first step, the council needed to approve only about $42,000 more, WCBU reported; 25 News Now put Peoria’s portion at $42,455.^{1, 2}

Urich said the whole of Step 2 is expected to cost about $4.6 million, and the third step, which includes preliminary engineering and environmental studies, probably $25 million.¹ That third step would need a 20% non-federal match, about $5 million split among the communities, he said.¹

The route and the timeline

The preferred route runs north from Peoria to Bureau Junction, then east through Peru, LaSalle, Utica and Morris to Joliet, where Metra would carry riders the last leg to Chicago, according to WCBU.¹ 25 News Now’s account of the preferred route also lists Ottawa.² Step 2 will also study alternatives, including a route past Streator and Coal City and one linking with the existing service in Bloomington-Normal, WCBU reported.¹

Preliminary plans call for five daily round trips and an average of 600 riders a day, 25 News Now reported.²

Step 2 is expected to take 19 months and could take longer, said Earl Wacker, senior project manager with the engineering firm hired by the city, because the railroad administration is running 77 such corridor programs at once.¹ Ali said the project is still about six or seven years from possibly becoming reality, according to 25 News Now.²

The debate

Kelly called the effort a “boondoggle” and said he doubts the train will come.¹ “If it ever happens, I think we will have that train for five years, and they’ll finally cancel it because of the lack of ridership,” he said.¹

Carmona said he has “very little faith in the federal government at this point, and the state, to give us any sort of grant or help us out at all.”²

Ali, a longtime supporter, acknowledged that federal grants have slowed.^{1, 2} “We’re not going to give up, and it is going to happen, and it’s going to be because we stay the course,” she said.²

Kelly said he had heard LaHood cite a total cost of $20 billion.¹ Ali said that figure was wrong and that an earlier estimate was about $2 billion.¹ LaHood confirmed to WCBU that he said “$20 billion” at a Peoria Rotary Club appearance but that he misspoke.¹ Wacker said the first feasibility study put the cost at $2.4 billion for a line all the way to Chicago, and the project now covers only Peoria to Joliet.¹