Passenger Trains > FRA/IDOT approval EIS for CHI-STL route

From Progressive Railroading
http://www.progressiverailroading.com/prdailynews/news.asp?id=33367
Note that Metra's Rock Island has been chosen over CN's former GM&O route between CHI and Joliet. To make this work. a long dormant CREATE project to bring the ROCK into Chicago's Union Station would need to be completed and a connection would need to be built between the ROCK and UP (GM&O) at Joliet.

Andy

twropr Wrote:
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> From Progressive Railroading
> http://www.progressiverailroading.com/prdailynews/
> news.asp?id=33367
> Note that Metra's Rock Island has been chosen over
> CN's former GM&O route between CHI and Joliet. To
> make this work. a long dormant CREATE project to
> bring the ROCK into Chicago's Union Station would
> need to be completed and a connection would need
> to be built between the ROCK and UP (GM&O) at
> Joliet.
>
> Andy

It speaks of "route alternatives". Does this not mean (if the article is carefully written, which is always in doubt) that the CRI&P route is merely one of these "alternatives"?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/16/12 08:12 by Ptolemy.

But I thought the Rock already went to Union Station (tongue firmly in cheek) -- at least the train traveling on the Rock in "Source Code" was announced as going to Union Station. Do you mean that Hollywood got it wrong????

Ptolemy Wrote:
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>> It speaks of "route alternatives". Does this not
> mean (if the article is carefully written, which
> is always in doubt) that the CRI&P route is merely
> one of these "alternatives"?

It means that the Metra Rock Island District is the preferred alternate. Due to the size and complexity of this project a Tier II EIS now needs to be completed.

In order to get into Chicago Union Station, they could use the connection at Englewood. The connection bridges were built 30 years ago? But no track was laid. And now there will be an overpass for the Rock Island line over the Pennsy main.

MEKoch Wrote:
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> In order to get into Chicago Union Station, they
> could use the connection at Englewood. The
> connection bridges were built 30 years ago? But no
> track was laid. And now there will be an overpass
> for the Rock Island line over the Pennsy main.

The last set of plans I saw for the Englewood flyover included removal of those bridges. I don't know if that was carried through to the final design.

kevink Wrote:
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> The last set of plans I saw for the Englewood
> flyover included removal of those bridges. I don't
> know if that was carried through to the final
> design.

I would imagine with the flyover there would be a bit of a vertical alignment "issue" with the existing connecting bridges.

I was under the impression if the RI is selected the connection would be made via the "Boomer", current nickname for the old line RI used to access the stockyards, portions of which were once the Chicago River & Indiana (NYC subsidiary) and the Chicago Junction (CJ). This would utilize the wye at 47th St that juts out over the Dan Ryan Expressway, heading west from there to CP 518 where a new connection would be built in the NE quadrant to allow a straight move north onto the NS/ex-PRR to 21st St.

This track is used currently by Metra for shop trains ferrying equipment between the ex-RI "Rocket house" and the BNSF, MILW and UP coach yards near CUS and Western Ave. The two problems preventing its immediate use as a passenger route are: 1) it's currently Excepted Track and 2) the lack of the head-on conenction (the Metra shop trains have to do a see-saw in the SW quadrant).

With the shutdown of UP's Canal Street intermodal rampo and the vacant ex-C&WI right-of-way nearby, there is ample real estate for adding an extra main track from CP518 to 21st St. to increase capacity. South of there toward Englewood, it's doable but not so simple.

Either way, several million dollars need to be spent to study this to death before a shovel of dirt can be turned.....sigh.

NZ

This also seems to be quite a slap in the face to the people who have designed the new passenger facility at Joliet, obviously figuring that the high-speed service would stay on the old GM&O.

The reason I saw for the RI route was that there would be fewer grade separations necessary.

So...how much would it cost to restore service (with BNSF-decreed upgrades, possibly an added track) on the former ATSF line?

Carl Shaver
Lombard, IL