There's nothing like the potential loss of $177 million in federal money to draw some political attention, even in budget-stalemated Illinois.

That likely explains why the Illinois Department of Transportation (Bruce Rauner, governor) notified the federal government this week that it will move ahead with plans to begin passenger rail service from Chicago to the Quad Cities within a few years.

The feds had allotted $177 million to construction as part of the national recovery package adopted in Barack Obama's first year as president, but it never got started. At least in theory, there was a deadline to act or lose the money, and both northwest Illinois U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-East Moline, and the Midwest High Speed Rail Association began warning that the money could vanish without Illinois taking some action by June 30, the end of the federal fiscal year.

But this week, IDOT told the feds it "will be proceeding with the proposal to reintroduce passenger rail service between Chicago and Moline," says department spokesman Guy Tridgell. "We remain strongly committed to looking out for the best interest of all Illinois taxpayers."

Of course, the state still has to come up with $45 million in matching funds. And given Springfield realities, that's easier said than done.

Tridgell says Rauner has included enough money to begin preliminary engineering in the stopgap budget he's proposed to Springfield Democrats—the budget that hasn't passed yet.

Anyhow, the line, which would use BNSF tracks from Union Station to as far west as Princeton, and then switch to Iowa Interstate Railroad tracks, is supposed to be completed within five years, under the deal between the state and the feds.

"A step is a step," says Midwest High Speed Rail's Rick Harnish. "We wanted them to begin construction. At least it's moved out of the 'under review' category."