The mayor of Beech Grove says he‘s pleased with the last-minute deal to keep the Amtrak line from Indianapolis to Chicago running.
Mayor Dennis Buckley says the new deal is good for his city, including the 550 people who work at the Amtrak maintenance facility. He says the jobs generate about 49-million dollars to the local economy for Beech Grove, Indianapolis and Central Indiana.
The deal announced Tuesday includes contributions from the state, Amtrak and cities along the route including Indianapolis, Crawfordsville, Rensselaer and Lafayette.
West Lafayette and Tippecanoe County will also contribute.
INDOT says it costs two-point-nine-million dollars to operate the line for one year.
However, Buckley says more work needs to be done to keep the line running for years to come.
He says long-term planning needs to be put in place so this issue doesn‘t keep coming up every year.
