06.12.19

Durbin, Duckworth Announce $6 Million For Rail Improvements Around Peru, Illinois

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) today announced that the City of Peru, Illinois, has been awarded a $6,081,036 Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI) grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation. The federal funding will support the second phase of the Peru Intermodal, Safety, Congestion, and Energy Security Project (PISCES II), creating a more efficient and safe rail system around the City of Peru. 

“This important investment will not only improve rail access and service reliability, it will boost economic development around Peru,” Durbin said. “Senator Duckworth and I are proud to support this improvement project, and will continue advocating for strong investments in Illinois’ transportation infrastructure.”

“Repairing and improving aging infrastructure is critical to ensuring Illinois’s competitiveness across the country and world,” Duckworth said. “Supporting projects like the Peru Intermodal, Safety, Congestion, and Energy Security Project is a critical step in increasing capacity and improving the efficient movement of freight through the region. Securing funds to revitalize Illinois’s infrastructure is one of my top priorities and I’ll keep working with Senator Durbin to ensure that Illinois receives the federal investments it deserves.” 

“This grant is a great step forward to move more commerce into and out of Peru and help in the reduction of truck traffic on our highways. This investment of $6 million insures safe and reliable transportation for years to come. This represents nearly $20 million in our road and rail infrastructure corridor in the last three years. This goes without saying, we’re open for business,” said Peru Mayor Scott Harl.

PISCES II will rehabilitate the Illinois Railway mainline between the BNSF Railway connection at Zearing to the Peru Industrial Railroad connection near Peru, and on to the yard located south of Peru. PISCES II will keep more than one million trucks off local and national roads by improving a freight rail route to more efficiently handle freight. 

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