The Iowa Department of Transportation will hold a public hearing to discuss a draft environmental impact statement for a passenger rail line from Chicago to Omaha.

The study lays out a preferred line that would run through Des Moines. The document will be finalized in 2013 and submitted to the Federal Railroad Administration, and also to Iowa lawmakers.

Illinois has already matched a federal grant that will extend service from Chicago to the Quad Cities, and the state of Iowa needs to match $20 million in state funding in order to extend the line to Iowa City. More funding would be necessary to complete the line through Des Moines to Omaha.

The public hearing will take place from 4 to 7 p.m., with a formal presentation at 5:30 p.m., at the Des Moines Botanical & Environmental Center, 909 Robert D. Ray Drive.