Officials at Nippon Sharyo in Rochelle held a ground breaking ceremony Tuesday for their 3rd shop in making railcars.
The 54 million dollar facility will be located west of the current building which began operations in June of last year.
The Japanese company currently has contracts with Metra in Chicago along with companies in California, Canada, and Virginia. They plan to make over 200 rail cars.
Nippon Sharyo currently has over 300 employees. The new addition will mean 80 new jobs and around 200 construction positions.
State and local officials attended the ceremony along with U. S Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood from Peoria and Illinois Governor Pat Quinn.
Operations in the new facility is expected to begin in the Spring of 2014.
