Union Pacific Railroad President and COO Lance Fritz and state government officials have announced that the Union Pacific and the Illinois Department of Transportation are making a significant investment in Metra’s West Line. Each will invest $45 million for the construction of a new third main line track on the UP/Metra’s West Line, from River Forest to Melrose Park and then from West Chicago to Geneva.

“We are investing in jobs that will help solidify Illinois’ status as the premier rail center of the nation,” Gov. Pat Quinn said in a UP press release dated June 27. “This final piece of the West Line improvement program will enhance commuter and freight travel on one of our state’s busiest rail lines. Building world-class infrastructure is vital to a healthy economy, and today’s investment will help get us there.”

The West Line improvements are designed to ensure smoother traffic flow and reduce conflicts between the commuter and freight trains that share the line. Earlier projects completed by Metra and UP modernized the signal system and added crossovers to make freight movement more efficient.  A third phase on the West Line – improving the Lombard and Wheaton Metra stations – will be finished in 2015. The West Line third track construction announced today is the final step that will allow the 59 Metra trains and 70 freight trains that use the line each day to operate at the same time, a critical step to improving the line’s reliability and efficiency.

The announcement was made during a celebration to mark the completion of a CREATE rail project that included the construction of a rail overpass, the rehabilitation of two passenger stations and the addition of pedestrian tunnels in Bellwood and Berkeley, and signal and track improvements along the UP/Metra West Line. The project created and supported 1,000 jobs and was funded primarily through a $52 million TIGER grant, a $27 million commitment from UP and other freight railroad partners, other federal funding of $3 million, and a $615,000 investment by the state of Illinois.

The CREATE program has completed a total of 21 projects and generated 10,000 jobs and has caused a 30 percent improvement in passenger and freight reliability. The program has been supported by a total of $500 million from the state, $450 million from the federal government, $325 million from the railroad industry and $30 million from the city of Chicago.

In Chicago, Union Pacific’s 2,900 employees move two million freight cars each year and serve more than 100,000 passengers each day.

“This is a new day for Metra, one in which we want to ensure that every project we execute puts commuters first,” Metra Chairman Martin Oberman said. “We are confident the West Line improvements will greatly improve the commuter experience.”

Chicago is the busiest rail hub of the nation, handling 1,300 freight and passenger trains every day. CREATE was started in 2003 to attract and invest funds in the infrastructure necessary to maintain Chicago’s leading rail status. The rail industry has invested an additional $2 billion in capital improvements that complement its investment in CREATE.

SOURCE: Union Pacific Railroad press release