A $55 million upgrade to rail lines from Iowa City to Chicago could lead to passenger service with ridership of about 187,000 people a year, according to a feasibility study released today. The improvements would be needed to support a speed of 79 mph, according to the study, which was conducted by Amtrak for the Iowa Department of Transportation. Fewer people would ride the train if it traveled at slower speeds, the report said. Iowa and Illinois would share the capital improvement costs as well as Amtrak’s operating costs of about $6 million.

The Iowa Department of Economic Development Board has announced tax credits and other economic incentives for plant research, advanced manufacturing and biofuels technology. Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc., an E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. subsidiary, was awarded tax benefits from the High Quality Jobs Creation (HQJC) program for advanced plant genetics expansions. Pioneer said it will create 36 jobs paying an average wage of $29.59 per hour in Johnston. New capital investment in Johnston includes a $3 million data center upgrade, $20 million for laboratory greenhouses and a proprietary FAST Corn research facility, and $10 million for a new dryer and seed warehouse. In addition, Pioneer is investing $4 million in a new dryer and warehouse expansion at its Durant plant, creating one job paying an average wage of $19.23 per hour. Trinity Structural Towers Inc. received tax credits for a wind-tower manufacturing plant at the former Maytag Corp. complex in Newton and $630,000 toward a $21 million project to renovate an existing facility at the complex and convert it to wind tower production. The company said it will create 140 jobs, with 31 paying an average hourly wage of $19.05.

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co. announced Thursday that it purchased an equity stake in Farms Technology LLC, which has worked with DuPont’s Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc. subsidiary to develop MarketPoint, an online market service linking corn growers with end users, such as ethanol plants. In February, Pioneer and Farms Technology, which is based in Overland Park, Kan., successfully launched a pilot program for MarketPoint with corn growers and ethanol plants in Nebraska. Growers producing a total of more than 60 million bushels of grain have already registered on the Web site.

A 5.2 magnitude earthquake that was felt in Des Moines and across the Midwest today was centered six miles from West Salem, Ill., and 45 miles from Evansville, Ind, the Associated Press reported. The quake is believed to have involved the Wabash fault, a northern extension of the New Madrid fault about six miles north of Mount Carmel, Ill., said U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist Randy Baldwin.

Meta Financial Group Inc. said it has hired KPMG LLP as its accountant. The company announced in mid-February that Bloomington, Minn.-based McGladrey & Pullen would not remain its accountant. The decision caused Meta Financial to miss filing its quarterly earnings report, and the company appeared before a Nasdaq Stock Market hearing panel earlier this month to seek an extension to avoid being delisted by the exchange. Nasdaq automatically considers delisting companies when they fail to file timely profit reports with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Nasdaq staff did not object to granting an extension and the delisting panel said it would issue a decision within 30 days. Meta Financial Group Inc. is a Storm Lake-based holding company with 13 banks in Iowa and South Dakota. The company said the KPMG appointment is for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30 and is effective immediately.

A recent survey by eFinancialCareers, a network of career Web sites for financial services professionals and the firms seeking to employ them, found that U.S. financial services professionals’ outlook on their 2008 bonuses has deteriorated over the last two months, along with confidence in their job security, as Wall Street’s financial troubles have intensified. The network conducted a survey in late March of more than 1,200 U.S. financial services professionals, after conducting a similar survey in late January. The number of respondents who expected their 2008 bonus to be lower than their 2007 bonus swelled from 12 percent in January to 23 percent in March. Also, respondents not expecting a bonus in 2008 rose from 4 percent in January to 10 percent in March.