While Chicago focused on the part of the Illinois transit bill that bailed out the CTA, Metra and Pace, there was intense interest in a much small provision that could have a big impact for Western Illinois.

That project: a passenger rail line from Chicago to Moline.

For the past 20 years, politicians have been trying to figure out how to restore the service, which was last available in 1978, when the Quad Cities Rocket stopped running on the Rock Island Railroad. Rock Island, named after one of the Quad Cities, chose not to transfer its passenger operations to Amtrak when it was formed in 1971.

But now, included in the $1.5 billion dollar, 1000-plus page transit bill is a $450 million dollar provision that could be used to bring the passenger trains back.

At a celebratory news confere

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