As many as 1300 freight and passenger trains pass over Chicagoland rails every day.

Sharing the Track: Freight and Passenger Rail

Today, the networks of the nation’s six largest freight rail companies cover nearly 95,000 miles. This is less than half of what the networks had been in 1970, but they are hauling 137 percent more freight – this discord is resulting in congested roads and rails, longer shipping times, and overall inefficiencies. In cities across the country, commuter service, Amtrak and other freight interests share the same rail corridors, creating a bottleneck that makes it difficult to move traffic through certain locations. In the Chicago region, Amtrak and Metra operate on borrowed infrastructure, using tracks that are owned by private freight companies. Approximately 60 percent of Amtrak train routes are operated on these tracks, with freight train interference ranking as the largest cause of delays. Likewise, almost 18 percent of all Metra delays are caused by freight interference, impeding the ability of Metra to add additional service, especially for reverse commuters. Not only does congestion impact the daily commute in Chicago, but with freight business growing in recent years, more railroad companies are experiencing the cost of congestion due to passenger rail. Ultimately, delays and congestion diminish Chicago’s location advantage, and decrease its ability to be economically competitive.

How can the region alleviate this debilitating congestion? Federal policy and funding need to reflect the national integrated character of goods movement. CREATE, a public-private partnership involving the railroads, City of Chicago, State of Illinois, Amtrak, Metra, and the federal government, is designed to fund infrastructure improvements to speed the movement of trains throughout the region. A 2002 study found that freight trains move through the city at an average speed of 9 mph. Untangling commuter and freight lines near choke points such as Englewood, where the Norfolk Southern line crosses Metra’s Rock Island District, would improve both reliability and speed, as well as provide the opportunity to extend current service. Englewood also constitutes a significant delay point for Amtrak and could hinder the potential Midwest High Speed Rail system. So, before Chicago can begin to imagine “whisking through towns at speeds over 100 mph,” the region must first take the needed steps investing in efforts to mitigate its congestion.

 

Photo courtesy of Emily Tapia

For Additional Information:

• Freight Rail Bottlenecks Hinder U.S. Potential – PBS Newshour
• CREATE Program Overview – CREATE
• High Speed Rail: Fact vs. Fiction – Midwest High Speed Rail Association

NEWS

Local News

CTA OKs 3 rail-line extensions – Chicago Tribune “Three rail-line extensions, estimated to cost a total of about $2 billion, were approved by the CTA board Wednesday.”

CTA Has Long Way Before L Extensions Happen – Chicago Public Radio “Peter Skosey, Vice President of the Metropolitan Planning Council, says if Chicago gets the Olympics, the CTA projects could reap the benefits.”

Spending on U.S. rail seen stuck at the station – Reuters “Supporters say rail investments have been largely ignored by Congress, suggesting political support is lacking, despite warnings action must be taken sooner rather than later.”

Freight forum stokes EJ&E concerns – Daily Herald “Squabbling in Congress over how to pay for transportation could mean no federal cash in the near future to fix Chicago's freight train bottleneck, a top official warned Tuesday.”

Project aims to put more commuters in fewer cars – Post-Tribune “Northwest Indiana regional planners and Illinois highway transit officials will cooperate in a joint program to reduce the number of cars used by commuters who live in one state and work in the other.”

Locals line up for rail bonanza – Crains “Insiders say Illinois could snare as much as $2 billion, leading to thousands of jobs in manufacturing, construction and railroads.”

U.S. says paratransit service must continue – Chicago Tribune “Chicago transportation officials have been warned that they face possible Justice Department prosecution and a cutoff of federal transit money if paratransit service for the disabled is shut down due to a funding shortfall.”

Central Avenue bypass plan inching forward – Chicago Tribune “Decades-old plans are moving ahead to build an overpass or a tunnel through a sprawling freight railroad yard on the traffic-choked Southwest Side near Midway Airport, although additional funding is still needed, officials said Friday.”

Railroad projects gain steam across Chicago area – Chicago Tribune “Transportation officials were heartened when the Illinois legislature recently set aside $320 million for rail improvements, hoping it would help unlock train gridlock in Chicago -- the nation's biggest, busiest and most congested railroad hub.”

 

World News

Completion of the Canada Line a major accomplishment – Vancouver Sun “It is three-and-a-half months ahead of schedule and should leave behind much of the controversy that has dogged this $2-billion project since it was first considered seriously eight years ago.”

More Fliers Skipping the Cab – New York Times “Express trains and shared-ride transfers are becoming more attractive to business travelers, said Dave Kilduff, managing director of ground transportation consulting for the CWT Solutions Group, because in ‘this type of economic environment, corporations are turning over every rock to save money.’”

D.C. wants to revive streetcar plan – Washington Business Journal “Streetcar tracks are being laid along South Capitol Street in Anacostia and H Street NE near Capitol Hill, for two pilot lines first planned under former Mayor Anthony Williams but long since delayed.”

China's amazing new bullet train – Fortune “This monumental infrastructure build-out has become the centerpiece of China's effort to navigate the global financial crisis and the ensuing recession.”

High-speed rail in Spain: From Madrid to Barcelona in a flash – Guardian “The year-old Barcelona-Madrid line has already taken 46% of the traffic – stealing most of it from fuel-guzzling, carbon-emitting aircraft.”

Merits and Flaws Are Seen in Proposal for Free Crosstown Buses – New York Times “The plan would make boarding faster, both supporters and opponents said in interviews Tuesday. But the transit authority budget is tight, raising questions about the cost of such a program.”

Plane to train: the ultra-fast route to a travel revolution – Guardian “Europe's largest high-speed rail operator has predicted that domestic air travel in the UK will lose millions of passengers to a 250mph train service if an ultra-fast network becomes a reality.”

House bill calls for federal tax on mileage – Land Line Magazine “Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-OR, introduced a bill that would establish a federal pilot program to study vehicle miles traveled, or VMT, as a possible supplement to or possible replacement for the current per-gallon fuel tax.”

L.A. freeways set to get futuristic 'smart studs' to help guide traffic – Los Angeles Times “A little bit of the future is coming to Los Angeles freeways later this year in the form of ‘smart’ road studs that gauge road conditions and traffic flow and open and close a freeway lane accordingly.”

 

Resources

• The Changing Face of Infrastructure: Frontline Views from Private Sector Infrastructure – The Economist
• Fighting Oil Addiction: Ranking States Oil Vulnerability and Solutions for Change – National Resources Defense Council

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Contact Information

For comments, suggestions or submissions, please contact Emily Tapia Lopez, Associate, at etapia@metroplanning.org or 312-863-6047.