Metra, Union Pacific plan $112 million in West Line upgrades

Every weekday morning, Peter Myung of Wheaton takes a Metra train to work, the Chicago Tribune reports. But even when he arrives at the downtown Wheaton station on time, he's at risk of missing his train. That's because the Metra platform is on the north side of the adjacent Union Pacific tracks; the commuter parking lot where Myung parks his car is on the south side. When a passing freight train blocks the nearby West Street crossing, Myung and other commuters must wait for it to pass. But starting next year, Myung will be able to take a shortcut across the tracks and won't risk missing his train.

A new pedestrian overpass
west of West Street will cross the tracks and link the city’s commuter parking
lots on the south side of the tracks with the Wheaton depot’s platforms. The
work, which will include moving the Wheaton station’s platforms entirely west
of West Street, is part of $3.3 million worth of improvements that Metra and
the UP are planning for the Wheaton depot.

"I’ll probably use the
pedestrian overpass a lot," said Myung, 41, a highway engineer.
"It’ll make a lot of sense, and it will be a shorter walk for me to the
station."

The new overpass is part of
a $112-million project designed to improve safety and passenger and freight
train flow along the Union Pacific’s West Line. Metra and the UP will split the
cost of improvements that are planned for 12 of the West Line’s 13 stations
from Maywood to Geneva, including new pedestrian paths, enhanced train warning
systems and longer platforms. Traffic flow will be improved by adding a third
track from just west of West Chicago’s depot to Elburn, said Union Pacific spokesman
Mark Davis.

Wheaton will not be the
only depot to receive a brand-new grade separation. Commuters in Lombard next
year will be able to begin using a pedestrian tunnel that Metra and the UP will
install at the village’s Metra station.

Other improvements — some
of which already are under way — include enhanced train warning systems and
new pedestrian paths at all stations except Lombard, additional pedestrian
gates and fences to separate commuters from the tracks, upgraded platforms at
Elmhurst, Geneva, Maywood, Melrose Park, Wheaton and Winfield and relocated
handicapped parking at Berkeley.

Davis and Metra spokesman
Michael Gillis said improvements will be finished by the end of this year at
all stations except Wheaton and Lombard, where work — including Wheaton’s new
pedestrian overpass and Lombard’s new pedestrian tunnel — will be completed
next year. The third track from West Chicago to Elburn will be installed in
2012 or 2013, Gillis said.

The Union Pacific also
plans to use funding from the federal Chicago Region Environmental and
Transportation Efficiency program, or CREATE, to triple-track the West Line
between Melrose Park and Elmhurst in 2013 or 2014, Gillis said.

The new overpass in Wheaton
is the latest in a series of grade separations in town that have been added in
recent years. East of the downtown Wheaton Metra station, the Union Pacific is
planning to install a pedestrian underpass near Wheaton College as part of
previously announced plans to close the Chase Street auto crossing and build a
crossover track for trains to switch from one track to another.

When the downtown Wheaton
pedestrian overpass and the Chase Street pedestrian underpass are completed,
pedestrians in Wheaton will be able to use seven underpasses and bridges to cross
the UP tracks. That’s significantly up from 2000, when just two places in town
— the Bridge Street auto overpass currently being rebuilt and the adjoining
Illinois Prairie Path bridge — offered grade separations for cyclists and
pedestrians to avoid the tracks.

In the past decade, DuPage
County constructed the County Farm Road auto underpass, the Wheaton Park
District built a pedestrian overpass near Monroe Middle School, and Metra
installed a pedestrian tunnel at the College Avenue depot.

Wheaton Mayor Mike Gresk lauded
the coming improvements, particularly the downtown Wheaton depot’s overpass.

"The pedestrian bridge
should be a great boon, since people won’t be stuck on one side or the other
because a train is picking up passengers or a freight train is moving through
town," Gresk said. "It’s a great improvement, and the good news is
that it won’t cost us any money, since there’s no taxpayer dollars being
spent."

Gresk also praised the UP
and Metra’s commitment to adding safe ways for cyclists and pedestrians to cross
the tracks.

"I think it’s a great
step forward," Gresk said. "In addition, moving the platforms will
mean fewer traffic backups for commuter trains in the early morning and early
evening. In the long run, the improvements will alleviate much of the congestion
that we see in the downtown.

"Are we still going to
see freight trains? Yes. But hopefully, the waits will be shorter."