DeKalb to use $400K IDOT grant for more Metra train studies, lobbies for line extension

DeKALB – A $400,000 state grant recently was awarded to DeKalb, and city leaders said they plan to use it to pay for another feasibility study to further assess if it’s possible to extend a Metra train line west of Elburn into the area.

The DeKalb City Council this week authorized a $400,000 Illinois Department of Transportation’s Technical Assistance grant to pay for the study. Officials said the study, once completed, could be used to support a future request by the city for large federal funding to extend the passenger rail out into DeKalb. The Metra line goes as far west as Elburn.

This week’s action comes on the heels of another Metra feasibility study completed in May 2023. The city of DeKalb has long rallied for Metra lines to extend further west. Efforts in recent years have been supported by Mayor Cohen Barnes and others, who’ve said extending the line could boost Northern Illinois University enrollment and create a direct route for commuters from Chicago to DeKalb.

Barnes said he’s excited to see how far the city has come with rail planning.

“We’re moving closer year by year,” Barnes said. “We knew this was going to be long haul to make this happen, but pretty exciting that we’re able to move onto the next phase.”

Key findings from the city’s feasibility study indicated that 2019 ridership for the entire year on Route 12 – which runs passengers from DeKalb to the Elburn Metra train station – was 3,163, city documents show. In 2023, ridership on that same route by comparison has risen to 14,179.

City Manager Bill Nicklas said city officials knew they needed to jump on state grant funding to proceed with rail planning.

“The next step was then to try to get some grant money to help us with the basically more hands-on investigation of the miles between here and the Elburn station looking at the topography, doing probably some soil borings and looking to see if an additional rail could be built alongside the other two and that would be an expectation of [Union Pacific] and Metra, as well,” Nicklas said.

The $400,000 in funding will pay for the city to do a planning and environmental linkages study, city documents show.

The study will consider the potential environmental, community and economic impacts of extending Metra passenger rail service along the Union Pacific-West line between the Elburn Metra Station and DeKalb train depot.

Nicklas acknowledged that there was a delay in getting the grant funding.

“We had a good read with our application and we thought we were in business, but here we are 18 months later,” he said. “We just learned that that money is not only available but it’s been appropriated for us.”

The grant as authorized will cover $400,000 in project costs, while the remaining expenses would be paid for up to $100,000 using local transit contribution dollars provided to the city’s transit program by Northern Illinois University.

Nicklas said it may be this time next year before the city knows the results of the latest study.

With the council’s approval of the funding, the next step is for the city to issue a request for proposals for a planning and environmental linkages study, city documents show. A firm would need DeKalb City Council and IDOT approval before conducting the study, since it’s partially funded by the state agency.