Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner and U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao joined rail executives to unveil $474 million in planned upgrades to the 75th Street Corridor Improvement Project, a key segment of create.
Officials say that when the new construction is finished in 2025, railroads and the economy of local communities will enjoy as much as $3.8 billion in benefits. The corridor project is aimed at relieving congestion through which as much as 25 percent of U.S. freight traffic passes and well as 30 daily Metra passenger trains.
According to news releases, Illinois taxpayers will pay $111 million of the project’s tab, freight railroads will pay $116 milllion; the City of Chicago, $9 million; Cook County, Ill., $78 million; Metra and Amtrak, $28 million; and the U.S. Department of Transportation, $132 million.
More information is available online.
about time this area is facing gridlock Amtrak told them to fix it and now they are going to do it. These diamonds have to go. CSX blocks everyone including a crossing by the firehouse, UP blocks NS when they switch tracks at 80th, Beltline blocks METRA who needs to get into the station, and METRA blocks Amtrak. here is the solution: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aer4P5jNrms CSX Transport builds a bridge and removes their diamonds this frees the first responders and everyone. UP moves their tracks onto the bridge at 80th to clear NS. Beltline removes their junction and moves their interchange yard to Landers and has one track going to Englewood to interchange with NS the old tracks go to METRA and a second line is built. METRA leaves Union Station and moves to LaSal and they build a flyover to get onto the Englewood Line. This is how we are going to fix this mess we call South Chicago.
Find it strange to see no BNSF locomotives in the picture
Well, DUH!!!!!
JERRY CONAWAY I respect your opinion that this diamond is a nice place to railfan, though from the map it seems that to watch trains there one must trespass on railroad property. I’ve never been there. I prefer train watching not only in safe neighborhoods but in areas where I can blend in and where public streets and passenger station platforms are right at the action. That’s why I keep going back to LaGrange no matter how many times I try to think of an alternative. At highly populated LaGrange, I’m just another person out for a stroll, or eating at an outdoor café, or lying on the grass reading a book, or walking the dog with my wife. And it’s not a racial thing. LaGrange has a charming little African American neighborhood on its east side which is a great spot to see both BNSF and IHB. All in all, LaGrange is a place with lots of freights (at speed), lots of Metra, and Amtrak in the form of two LD pairs and two corridor pairs. The only downside is that the Barnes and Noble store, with its panoramic view of the railroad from the café (and with available restrooms), closed several years ago. Oh, did I mention, LaGrange is accessible by Metra, and for those coming from the west, Amtrak.
It’s a staged publicity shot. Unless something were very wrong at the dispatch center, no train would be that close to the diamonds while another train passed by.
Nice place to rail fan, if you don’t mind being accosted the local pedestrians.
Great photo but wouldn’t that CSX be waiting at the signal? On the opposite side of the diamonds, see the signal, I would imagine that all signals would be exactly the same distance away from the diamond.
Quite the diamond array. It’s probably unique.
Great news. I have no clue where (Michael Lampman) the money is coming from but I assume it’s locked it. Or at least I hope so. I’ve never gone train watching in this area. From the maps it doesn’t seem particularly user-friendly in terms of good vantage, good parking, or neighborhood amenities.
Great News And Photo!
Are the state and city of Chicago good for the money? Last I heard, they were teetering financially.