Chicago bridge prelude to high-speed rail
Written by jrood
A $133-million federal stimulus project to build a railroad "flyover" at the Metra, Amtrak and freight tracks in Englewood on Chicago's south side will untie a knot in the nation's rail system and make way for high-speed rail, government and rail officials said Friday, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
"The single biggest
source of delays in the Midwest is right here at the Englewood crossing,"
said Amtrak chair Thomas Carper, at an announcement at the project site at 63rd
Street. "This project is going to fix that. That’s how important this
is."
The project will create a
railroad bridge to carry the north-south Metra Rock Island District line over
the east-west Norfolk Southern/Amtrak tracks at 63rd St., near the Dan Ryan Expy.
Ground will be broken on the project later this year, and it will be completed
by 2012, said U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski (D-Chicago), who has promoted the project
as part of the Chicago Regional Environmental and Transportation Efficiency (CREATE)
program.
The project is expected to
create 1,450 jobs, improve traffic on the Metra Rock Island line and cut Amtrak
and freight delays. The triple-tracked bridge will carry Metra operations over
all four tracks of the Norfolk Southern, and possibly a fifth track for a high-speed
intercity passenger rail connection to points east and/or south. The flyover is
also a first step toward future CREATE projects that would cut delays on
Metra’s Southwest Service line, according to Lipinski.
The crossing sees 78 Metra
trains, 46 freight trains and 14 Amtrak trains daily. "With all that
traffic, it is unavoidable that we have conflicts and delays," Lipinski
said.
The announcement also was
attended by Mayor Daley, Gov. Quinn, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) and
U.S. Rep. James L. Oberstar (D-Minn.), chair of the House Transportation
Committee.
Oberstar said the current
track intersection is "the very symbol of gridlock and congestion."
