Eastern Railroad Discussion > Former C&EI CSX-UP Joint Line

How many trains does CSX and UP run on the former Chicago and Eastern Illinois between Woodland Jct. and Chicago Heights? Did CSX or UP, or their predecessor railroads, ever consider rebuilding MILW's parallel Terre Haute line north of Danville, shifting all of CSX's trains there and avoiding the joint line with the UP? From SPV and Google maps, it looks like there is a direct connection between the MILW and the C&EI's line to Evensville. MILW's line from Danville would provide CSX with a direct line between Evensville and the B&OCT in Chicago Heights without using any of the joint trackage with the UP. Is the joint line dispatched by UP or CSX today?

It is dispatched by UP from Proviso.

The Milwaukee Line was the Chicago, Terre Haute, And Southeastern. the right of way is there, but CSXT has never really looked at rebuilding it as far as I know. It would be cheaper to upgrade the Monon. Before this line was abandoned many years ago, the Southern looked at buying it to get into Chicago after attempts to buy the Monon were unsuccessful. However, the Southeastern was in a state of disrepair and would have cost a fortune to rebuild. It is a shame the line is gone.

MP got the line first, and L&N track rights came a bit later. UP dispatches CSX trains; it has more so it is fair. Don't know the other arrangements for maintenance, etc. These decisions were made before de-regulation, double stack growth, and other later mergers that changed traffic flows. Then there was no need for a parallel MILW line with no signals and very limited capacity. The UP ex CEI was already a high capacity core rail route. Maybe the ex-milw might be needed in high traffic times, but with driverless higher capacity trucks coming sometime, maybe not. Any way, the MILW is gone so it is moot.

MP bought C&EI but the Interstate Commerce Commission stipulated that they had to sell the Woodland-Evansville line, and in addition give the buyer (which turned out to be L&N) half ownership of the Woodland-Chicago route. That's the way it stands today except of course it's UP instead of MP and CSX instead of L&N.

Even though CSX owns half the Woodland-Chicago segment, the line is dispatched and maintained by UP.

Action on that segment is variable; sometimes three or four trains an hour, other times nothing for a couple of hours.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/16/18 19:18 by calumet.

Northern Wrote:
. MILW's line from Danville would
> provide CSX with a direct line between Evensville
> and the B&OCT in Chicago Heights without using any
> of the joint trackage with the UP.

It could have worked at one time, however the B&OCT Chicago Heights line ends at Joe Orr Rd in Glenwood Illinois. It's been gone at least 25 years now...