Rail plans on track

New more specific details are emerging about the plan to bring passenger rail service back to Fort Wayne.

Thursday, INDOT announced a multi-million dollar proposal during a public meeting: it includes plans for a route connecting Chicago to Fort Wayne to Toledo.

About 100 people packed the Baker Street train station for the latest meeting on rail.

"If it's going to be through Indiana, it should come through Fort Wayne," said Dwight Pinkerton, who attended the meeting.

That's been the thought of local lawmakers and the Northeast Indiana Passenger Rail Association.

Both forces have been working on plans to get a piece of about eight billion dollars in stimulus money that's been set aside for rail projects.

Thursday, Indiana Department of Transportation officials also threw their support behind a rail plan that would use Chicago as a hub.

INDOT Commissioner Mike Reed detailed a $49 million dollar proposal that would include two Chicago routes: a northern one that includes South Bend as a stop, and a southern one that includes Fort Wayne.

"We have [the Baker Street Train Station] which has been rehabilitated and looking very handsome, we really need a train that will go through Fort Wayne," said Marcia Laker, another resident who attended the meeting.

INDOT officials say their next move to keep rail plans moving will be submitting the multi-million dollar proposal as part of a pre-application bid: if the proposal gets the OK from the federal government, it would fund studies to see if the idea is really feasible.

Reed says that would be the first step toward requesting federal stimulus money to fund the project.

"This is a positive step, but it's one step and I caution everybody, if we're successful in getting this and it does validate it and it looks economically viable, then the real challenge becomes how do I fund it?" Reed told NewsChannel 15.

Despite those potential financial concerns on the horizon, the idea is still picking up steam, and a lot of support.

"Indiana is in a strategic place as far as the crossroads of the U.S. and we're that way when it comes to road transportation, and we can be that way when it comes to rail transportation," Senator Tom Wyss (R-Fort Wayne) told NewsChannel 15.

The studies would take about two years, so it would still be several years before any trains would be pulling into Fort Wayne.

Governor Daniels will have the last word on the rail plans. He'll need to submit a final application by the end of next month.