DECATUR, Ill. (WAND) - The Scovill Zoo train expansion will open to riders next week!

The train will be open for passengers on Friday, June 28.

Work has been done on the Z.O. & O Express to extend the track and connect the zoo to the Children's Museum of Illinois.

The extended train route will take passengers past the Scovill Garden House, the Shilling Environmental Education Center and the west edge of the Scovill Sculpture Park.

The train now stretches along the Lake Decatur shoreline.

The Decatur Park District had approved a $2 million bid from O'Shea Builders for the project.

The initial hope was to have the expansion done by the zoo's spring opening.

The train's current route takes passengers on a one-mile narrated tour of the zoo.

The track expansion was funded largely by a $2 million donation from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation.