Our Projects

Passenger Corridor

Grand Crossing Flyover

Location

North Limit	Pershing Rd.
South Limit	117th St.
East Limit	I-90/I-94
West Limit	Western Ave.

Daily Trains Affected

46 freight trains (NS)
14 Amtrak trains – NS Mainline (Michigan Services, Capitol Limited, Lake Shore Limited)
6 Amtrak trains – CN Mainline (Illini/Saluki, City of New Orleans)

Communities Benefited:

Chicago Community Areas – Avalon Park, Chatham, Englewood, Fuller Park, Grand
Boulevard, Greater Grand Crossing, New City, Woodlawn, Douglas, Hyde Park, Kenwood,
Oakland, Near South Side, Armour Square, Bridgeport
Communities served by the Amtrak Illini/Saluki through Champaign and Carbondale and
City of New Orleans service between Chicago and New Orleans, LA
Cook County

Benefits

This project will allow the 6 current Amtrak trains serving Champaign, Carbondale and points south to reroute from the CN Lakefront and St. Charles Airline route to the Norfolk Southern Chicago Line. This routing will eliminate the time-consuming back-up move at 16th Street near Halsted, which the current track configuration requires for these Amtrak trains to access Chicago Union Station. The re-route will reduce travel times by approximatelly 10-15 minutes each way. The project will also increase capacity on a congested section of the Norfolk Southern mainline that currently serves 14 daily Amtrak trains between Chicago and points east. This project will also allow for the space currently occupied by the St. Charles Airline in Chicago and the CN mainline tracks along the Lakefront north of Grand Crossing to be used to serve future public needs.

Scope of Work

The purpose of this project is to provide a new direct route for Amtrak trains from New Orleans or Carbondale into Chicago Union Station, and to provide sufficient mainline capacity to accommodate additional Amtrak trains along with freight traffic.

Construct new main line capacity between Grand Crossing and Control Point 518 (at Pershing Rd.) Work may include shifting rail operations to a new alignment. Includes all associated signal work, grading work, crossovers, and other bridge work. Also includes connection from CN to unused NS bridge in the Grand Crossing Area.

Project Status

Phase I	Underway

Phase II	Not Started

Phase III	Not Started

Project Location Map

Project outlines and locations shown above are approximations and do not necessarily represent final design and construction limits.