http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...,7159799.story
Railroad projects gain steam across Chicago area
New state money injects hope into slow-moving plan
By Richard Wronski | Tribune reporter
August 5, 2009
A motorist often needs two hours to travel from one end of the Chicago area to the other, but it can take two days for a freight train, slowed by a bewildering, century-old maze of tracks and outdated signals and switches.
So 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.
The infusion of state dollars is expected to leverage additional millions in federal matching funds -- money that would build new crossings and overpasses, which could mean faster commutes for Metra and Amtrak riders as well as for long-suffering drivers now stuck waiting at blocked intersections.
Six of Metra's 11 lines operate on freight-owned tracks, and delays between passenger and freight trains regularly cause commuters to be late for work and dinner. Such encounters long have been part of the urban experience in a metropolitan area where each day as many as 500 freight and 800 passenger trains pass through a labyrinth of tracks and crossings.
..