PEORIA (25News Now) – The Peoria City Council is taking the next step necessary to eventually achieve the goal of passenger rail between the River City and Chicago.
The council on Tuesday approved an agreement for a Corridor Identification and Development Program, which is Step 2 of the passenger rail project.
Until this point, everything for the project has been paid for by a federal grant. The next step requires a 10% local match. Peoria’s portion is $42,455.
At-large Council member John Kelly, who has long been against the project, is joined by Alex Carmona, who represents District 2. They feel that the project is unlikely to actually go forward. They were the two no votes.
Mayor Rita Ali acknowledged there have been delays due to the federal government slowing down all grants, but she still believes the project has a strong chance, although they are still about six or seven years away from possibly seeing the idea become reality.
