CREATE: P3 - Forest Hill Flyover (Part of 75th Street Corridor Improvement Project)

After an overview of the 75th Street Corridor Improvement Project, these notes are now (2024) for the CREATE project P3 because that is what got funded. P3 takes CSX over Metra+BRC+NS/Wabash at the Forest Hill Junction.

The 80th Street Junction has been added to the project scope since I studied CREATE in 2014. I don't know what the problem is and how it is supposed to be fixed.

IDOT from Overview

Satellite

Belt Junction is where freight (BRC+NS/Wabash) and passenger (Metra/Wabash) trains are funneled down to two tracks along the 75th Street Corridor over Loomis Blvd. This choke point plus the grade crossing of CSX+Amtrak/B&OCT vs Metra+NS+BRC at Forest Hill Junction is currently the worst source of rail congestion in Chicago now that the CREATE P1 Project has been completed. CREATE has a plan to separate the traffic along the 75th Street corridor that defines four projects. --- P2, P3, EW2, GS19. It has even finished Phase I --- Preliminary (30%) Design and issued a Final Environmental Impact Statement and Record of Decision. The problem is that all four projects should be done at once, and their combined cost is about a billion dollars. In this age when both state and the federal infrastructure "experts" are diverting rail improvement funding to more highway projects, the only current activity to fix this congestion seems to be a web page.

When I first studied CREATE in 2014, they had separate descriptions of the four projects. But I see that now all four projects link to the same description. From memory, they get the CSX and Amtrak traffic out of the way by elevating the B&OCT tracks over 71st Street and the east/west corridor (BRC+Metra+NS). This removes the Forest Hill Junction grade crossing. (Now that CSX has bought the former GTW route from CN, I wonder if they route their freights up through Hayford Junction instead of Forest Hill.) They separate Metra and freight traffic by building another track dedicated to commuter service through the corridor and a bridge at the east end that not only will take the commuter trains over the freight trains, but that flyover will connect the new commuter track to the Rock Island route to LaSalle Station rather than the historic Wabash+C&WI route to Union Station. Advantageously (the first patent lawyer I worked with at Bell Labs loved that word), the new commuter flyover bridge will relieve projected overcrowding at Union Station by utilizing excess capacity at the LaSalle Station.

Update: State gets $132 million federal grant to reduce South Side railroad delays "The federal grant is being matched by $111 million from the Illinois Department of Transportation, $116 million from the American Association of Railroads, $78 million from Cook County, $23 million from Metra, $9 million from the city of Chicago and $5 million from Amtrak."

CREATE 75th Street: $132 million from USDOT (source)

Jon Roma I may sound like a shill for the CREATE project, but I'll respond to the naysayers by saying that CREATE is an excellent example of public/private partnership. In addition to taxpayer funding from state and federal sources, the AAR contributes funds, as do individual railroads.

This is as it should be: Both the public and the railroads benefit immensely from making rail traffic around Chicago fluid. One tangible public benefit is the removal of delays associated with street crossings at grade; another is removal of delays at places like Englewood (NS/Metra Rock Island) where the crossing is now a grade separation. There are other less tangible public benefits as well.

IDOT posted

The 75th Street corridor serves more than 2 million freight trains annually and more than 30 Metra trains and 10 Amtrak trains daily. A $474 million investment in one of the country’s most complex segments of railroad will unlock an estimated $3.8 billion in economic benefit. We're proud to be a partner on this project. #CREATE Chicago Department of TransportationCook County Government #amtrak #metra #cookcounty Association of American Railroads

Learn more: https://youtu.be/wWqywC8TrPk
[This is only half of the $1 billion needed, so the CSX flyover should get done, but not the Metra flyover to the Rock Island route into La Salle Station. The CSX flyover is the first time I can think of that freight trains will have to climb a flyover. Most flyovers are for commuter trains which have a lot more horsepower per car so that they can accelerate quickly out of the station stops.]

The Blackhawk Railway Historical Society posted
There was a ceremony kicking off the CREATE project on the 75th Street corridor, and they posed some trains for photos...
Gary Talsky (Metra and BRC look like they are fouling diamonds)
David Daruszka 4 out of 5 engineers in this picture were subsequently pulled out of service for violating signal rules.
Michael Riha They quickly found a dispatcher to blame this on...
Bill Grenchik Sorry your shipment was late. We had a photo shoot to do.

Norfolk Southern shared Railway Age post
Left to right: AAR President and CEO Ed Hamberger, Cook County Board of Commissioners President Toni Preckwinkle, USDOT Secretary Elaine Chao, Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Photo by Mark Llanuza.

A much needed half-billion dollar grant gets a lot of press.

David Daruszka shared
Dean Mastoras from Trains
According to news releases, Illinois taxpayers will pay $111 million of the project's tab, freight railroads will pay $116 milllion; the City of Chicago, $9 million; Cook County, Ill., $78 million; Metra and Amtrak, $28 million; and the U.S. Department of Transportation, $132 million.
Eric Hendrickson commented on a post with a copyright watermak of ETHOVER 2019

safe_image for ProgressiveRailroading
At a ceremonial groundbreaking Oct. 1 at the site of the planned Forest Hill Flyover, five locomotives were positioned at the Belt Junction to represent some of the railroads that use the busy crossovers each day: CSX, NS, UP, BRC and Metra.
Eric Hendrickson commented on a post with a copyright watermak of ETHOVER 2019

Before they added the Metra train to the show.

Brian Watt posted
Neat publicity photo taken in 2018 to celebrate groundbreaking for a new flyover at Forest Hill/ 75th Street interlocking.

Eric Hendrickson commneted on Brian's post

safe_image for Railroads commit to fund latest CREATE project in Chicago for more than $400 million
[Note the article is two years old. I don't have a subscription and it is readable for me, so it should be readable for you.]

Nov 2021:

Ian M Contreras posted

Nothing special, but the ordinary 16G from Clearing to Conway smacks the diamonds at Forest Hill/75th St.  Who knows what this view may change to in the coming months, as it looks like the foundation and brush clearing work has begun for the CSX flyover.

11/23/21

Chicago, IL

Stan Stanovich: ...I don’t know anything about a “foundation” as such yet. What you’re seeing immediately left of the existing B&OCT (CSXT) alignment is the grading and roadbed of what I believe to be a temporary alignment while they build the “flyover” on the existing alignment. There is new grading and roadbed along both wye tracks for new “infrastructure” in place of the existing. Exactly how soon these new tracks are completed is anyone’s guess. There were new “diamonds” present which I thought would be for the new CSX alignment across BRC and the NS/Metra, but they were used to replace the diamonds in the existing alignment. (I’m employed by one of these carriers and frequent the location in the charge of my duties)

Ian M Contreras

Author

Ian M Contreras: Stan Stanovich should have considered the shoo-fly in the equation. Of course it would come first.

It amazes me how this whole corridor towards 87th St is such an archaic tangled mess even today. It'll be a sight to see in the future when the csx hovers up and over the Belt/Metra/NS. A little further east there should also be a new ramp involving metra linking the SWS and the Rock at 74th St too, no? The Villa Grove Sub at 81st St is also swapping places with the NS alignment as far as I understand, right? In an ideal world parallel moves should be possible between the Villa Grove, NS Chicago District between Calumet and Landers, as well as the Belt mainline.

Stan Stanovich: Ean Kahn-Treras ...I haven’t yet taken time to view the posted link. You are correct about the ramp connecting SWS and the Rock from what I understand. I don’t know anything about Villa Grove Sub and NS swapping alignments at 80th Street, but makes sense in relation to some reconfiguring that I’ve heard of involving NS. Back in the day besides the existing alignment toward Dolton (present UP), there was also a connection to the route just south of where NS crosses BRC on an overpass at 87th Street, perhaps being reinstated? Anyways, the changes in infrastructure will be interesting!!!

Fact Sheet via 75thcip

Apr 2024:

Association of American Railroads posted

Catch a glimpse of the Forest Hill Flyover under construction in Chicago! The new bridge will rid delays due to train crossings and improve the fluidity of freight and passenger trains, ultimately making Chicago’s railroad network safer.

The project is one of 70 improvements under the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency Program (CREATE) aimed to enhance the quality of life of Chicago-area residents by bringing critically needed rail improvements to communities throughout the region. Learn more at https://www.createprogram.org/