Traffic Jam at the Nations Crossroads

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Hat tip, Kelsey Gee, who retweeted it: @kelseykgee

When you're writing about Chicago and freight rail, it makes sense to start with Carl Sandburg. https://www.wsj.com/articles/traffic-jam-at-the-nations-crossroads-1493126761 via @WSJ

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Traffic Jam at the Nation’s Crossroads

Chicago coalition of local, state and regional entities has been working through a $4.4 billion plan to ease gridlock



[font size=1]Rail freight cars positioned in Hammond, Ind., waiting to cross the Calumet River into Chicago in February 2017. Photo: Charles Rex Arbogast/Associated Press [/font]

By Will Connors

April 25, 2017 9:26 a.m. ET

CHICAGO—This city’s most famous poet, Carl Sandburg, called Chicago the “nation’s freight handler.” That title stands true today. ... Every day, some 300,000 commuters on two dozen passenger train lines converge in Chicago, where they share limited real estate with six major railroad lines and 30,000 to 50,000 freight cars, or roughly 25% of the country’s freight rail traffic.

Chicago is the country’s No. 1 hub for freight traffic and No. 2 for commuter train lines—and its problems can bog down the whole system. Over the years, the city’s densely populated neighborhoods, grinding local politics and a host of infrastructure issues have kept trains from running on time. Road traffic and shared rail lines between commuter and freight systems have created the worst rail backlogs in the country. In 2003, it could take trains as long as 43 hours to crawl through Chicago, in some cases at five miles an hour.

That same year, city and state officials and railroad industry representatives undertook a $4.4 billion program called Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency (or Create) to tackle rail congestion, point by point. Backers of the project estimate it will yield some $31.5 billion in economic benefits over the life of the project.

The program has grown to include 70 projects, 28 of them completed, including overpasses where passenger train and car traffic overlap, track upgrades and better coordination of shared tracks.
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Write to Will Connors at [e-mail]

@wconnors

He said elsewhere at his Twitter account that April 18 was his last day at The Wall Street Journal.