Amtrak, States Seek Funds for Chicago Upgrades

Connection from Union Station to St. Charles Air Line Could Shave 15 minutes off Schedules

Track layout leaving Union Station viewed from Willis Tower. Amtrak and state of Illinois want to build a new connection to the St. Charles Air Line.

The last mile syndrome affects virtually every mode of transportation. Who hasn’t sat out on a tarmac waiting for a gate to open at a busy airport or spent two hours driving the last 30 miles to their destination?

Passenger rail isn’t immune to this phenomenon. As a former Long Island Rail Road commuter I can attest to countless times my train crawled through the East River tunnels on its way to Penn Station. Look closely at Amtrak schedules and you’ll see numerous examples of trains with excessively lengthy running times to reach the last station. Maybe that’s why the stars preferred to get off the Super Chief in Pasadena instead of Los Angeles.

Some of this is schedule padding to help late trains arrive on time. But much also reflects congestion in the rail system and the poor geography of the track layout in a metropolitan area.

Nowhere is this more widespread than in Chicago where a congested web of 3,865 miles of track plays havoc with the movement of passengers and freight alike. Every day, nearly 500 freight trains and 750 passenger trains move through the Windy City, according to U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, D-IL.

Through the CREATE Program (Chicago Region Environmental And Transportation Efficiency) many of the region’s rail bottlenecks have already been eliminated but there is much more to be done. One project alone, the Forest Hill flyover on the South Side, which has a $340 million price tag, is expected to eliminate 8,500 hours of annual passenger train delay.

CREATE was formed in 2003 but to date has only completed roughly half the items on its $4 billion to do list. As of 2020 it had raised approximately $1.6 billion consisting of $628 from the federal government, $441 million from the state of Illinois, $375 million from the railroads, and $153 million from local governments.

Planners, elected officials, and railroad executives are looking to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to release more funds so these and other rail infrastructure projects can get built. One example is the Chicago Hub Improvement Program (CHIP), a partnership of Amtrak, the Illinois and Michigan Departments of Transportation, METRA, the City of Chicago, the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP), and Cook County.

Last week they applied to the Federal Railroad Administration for an $873 million Federal State Partnership grant that would pay 80 percent of the project’s $1.1 billion estimated cost. The balance would come from the railroads and state and local agencies. CHIP aims to transform high-speed intercity and regional passenger service, connect jobs centers, reduce the carbon footprint, and more.

The program has three main elements:

Chicago Union Station Improvements    Upgraded concourse and ventilation; platform capacity expansion, and reactivated tracks that previously served mail platforms.

Chicago Area Infrastructure Improvements          Direct connection between Chicago Union Station and the St. Charles Airline; purchasing yard property; upgraded St. Charles Air Line track and connection to Rock Island District at 16^th Street, and a new Amtrak platform in Joliet.

Chicago – Detroit Infrastructure Improvements                 Double-tracking a busy 16-mile segment of the Chicago – Detroit line between Dowagiac and Niles, MI.

These projects address several needs. The work at Union Station will increase station capacity and improve safety and passenger experience. They will help Amtrak increase service on routes between Chicago and major Midwest cities, which would make rail more convenient for travelers, and add new markets.

The St. Charles connector eliminates backup moves for trains accessing the former Illinois Central mainline such as the City of New Orleans, Illini, and Saluki. This would cut up to 15 minutes from schedules. The connector could be used to one day provide direct rail service between O’Hare Airport and McCormick Place.

A connection from the St. Charles Air Line to the Rock Island line could enable Amtrak to reroute Chicago – St. Louis trains, which can do 110 mph between Joliet and Alton. off a slow and congested line between Chicago and Joliet, . The Michigan project, which adds 16 miles of double track to the Chicago – Detroit line, eliminates a bottleneck that adds as much as 30 minutes to schedules.

In making these investments, Amtrak and the state and local governments are playing catch up, of sorts. For example, Illinois spent almost $2 billion over 13 years to up/grade the Chicago – St. Louis line to 110 mph, but those speeds are attained only on the stretch between Joliet and Alton.

While trains can cover the 220 miles between Joliet and Alton in as little as three hours, the 64 combined miles between Chicago and Joliet and Alton and St. Louis could take close to two hours. In other words, it takes up to 40 percent of the time to cover 22 percent of the distance.

Consequently, recently acquired locomotives and rolling stock capable of speeds of 110 mph will be underutilized. This situation is not unique to Amtrak’s Midwest routes. The Acela Express, which has a top speed of 150 mph, attains it on only 50 miles of the 457-mile Northeast Corridor route between Boston and Washington.

The lesson here is there may be greater potential time savings and return on investment from increasing the lowest speeds a train travels than raising the highest speeds. If a new connection from Chicago to the St. Charles Air Line would shave 15 minutes off a schedule, 15 ½  miles of track would have to be upgraded from 79 mph (Class 4) to 110 mph (Class 6) to realize the same time savings.

Top speeds attained by a train or plane matter far less to the typical traveler than overall trip times. When Amtrak introduced Acela between Boston and New York it could only reduce the trip time to 3 ½ hours instead of its stated goal of three hours. That’s because there were too many locations with speed restrictions and it lacked sufficient funds to eliminate them. Trip time is competitive with driving but not flying.

To get more people to use trains, Amtrak and other operators will need to offer comfortable, reliable, and convenient service. The CHIP project addresses the first two, but not the third. Increased frequencies with memory schedules are needed to make it easier for travelers to go by train.

Nowhere in the Midwest does Amtrak provide sufficient frequencies. Even the Chicago – St. Louis route, with five round trips, has large gaps between departure times. Both Amtrak and the states need to improve this. It is time to change the conversation about trains from being superfluous to being essential.

If Amtrak and the states add tracks at Chicago Union Station, build the St. Charles Air Line connection, and double track the Chicago – Detroit line in western Michigan but fail to increase service their efforts will be for naught.

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Next Rail Odyssey Goes to Atlantic City

Two weeks until my next one-day rail odyssey to Atlantic City, NJ, via the Long Island Rail Road, NJ Transit, PATCO, and SEPTA, Wednesday, August 23, 2023. If you’d like to join me for all or part of the journey send me a private message, ellisbobsimon@gmail.com, and I will share my itinerary.