GENESEO - The Illinois Department of Transportation released where it wants to put a new Amtrak station Tuesday.
The department wants to put the new Amtrak station just to the east of the old railroad station in Geneseo. The town will get an Amtrak station on the new passenger rail line that will soon be built. The rail line is supposed to make two round trips from Chicago to Moline each day. Along the way, the train has stops in both Princeton and Geneseo.
"We feel that it would be fantastic for people getting on and off the train to go right into our downtown district," Public Works Director Klint Rice said of the site near the old station.
Rice and IDOT siad they're looking at a couple of different places for where they could put the new train station. The only one the department is currently disclosing is the one near the old train station though. Tuesday night, IDOT held a public meeting at the Geneseo Library. The meeting even drew in people from outside of Geneseo.
"There's always room for improvement," Colona resident Diane Mayhew said of the plans. "There's always room for expansion, so I think that's what the state is after. But I think the train would be a good thing."
Geneseo's train station is supposed to cost nearly $3 million. The city is supposed to pay for about 20% of that. IDOT and the city say they'll have a site picked out for the train station by the fall of 2013. Construction will then start on the station in 2014. The rail service from Chicago to the Quad Cities is supposed to be complete by the fall of 2015.