Illinois gets federal OK to spend money on rail corridor

The Illinois Department of Transportation received the "go ahead" from U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to start spending $126 million for Chicago's Englewood Flyover project, after an agreement was reached between NS, Amtrak and IDOT. The project, which will get under way late summer, will eliminate one of the nation's largest rail bottlenecks. The Illinois Department of Transportation contributed $6.6 million to the $133 million project. The Englewood Flyover is a grade separation project south of Chicago Union Station that eliminates one of the most delay-prone intersections in the entire Amtrak system. It separates Rock Island District Metra commuter trains from Amtrak passenger trains traveling on the Norfolk Southern corridor. "Untying rail congestion in Chicago is critical to developing a Midwest passenger rail network that will connect the 40 largest markets in the Midwest," said Secretary LaHood. "Building the Englewood Flyover will put Americans back to work this summer and create new orders in our domestic supply chain." The Englewood Flyover project is part of the CREATE Program, a partnership between the State of Illinois, the City of Chicago, freight railroads, Metra and Amtrak, to remove and reduce train congestion throughout Chicagoland and the Midwest region. "Not only will Illinois see the benefit of new construction jobs and some desperately needed congestion relief, this is a great opportunity for Illinois suppliers to bid on new orders," said Federal Railroad Administrator Joseph C. Szabo. "Illinois has more railway suppliers than any other state in the country and does more than $4.5 billion in sales each year."