why the hell are they delaying that bridge construction and why take the third track out of the bridge??? They could use that third track for epress trains that stop in the suburbs (Waukegan, Highland Park, etc) All the other UP lines out of Chicago have a third track. then again, all the other UP tracks out of Chicago run freight on them too.
Mr. Railman why the hell are they delaying that bridge construction and why take the third track out of the bridge??? They could use that third track for epress trains that stop in the suburbs (Waukegan, Highland Park, etc) All the other UP lines out of Chicago have a third track. then again, all the other UP tracks out of Chicago run freight on them too.
The third track has been gone since sometime around 1985, from what I've been told. I hired out in 1995 and that line is my regular territory. The third track only ran as far as Canal Tower in the vicinity of Central Street Station in Evanston anyway. As I understand it, there are clearance issues with the idea of putting the third track back in. As far as the delay goes, they got way too much complaint at Metra from the ridership, especially the passengers in Evanston. As far as freight goes, there hasn't been any south of Lake Bluff (Lake Sub from the Milwaukee Sub at KO) since they pulled up the Weber Line. It used to come into Evanston between Central Street and Davis Street. You can still see the bridge abutments. The Weber used to go from there down to Mayfair where it met the Cragin Line, which went on down to 40th Street Yard (where M-19A is now). Both lines still radiate out of Mayfair, but have been cut back as industrial leads. The Kenosha Sub gets much more freight on it than the Harvard Sub, mostly coal trains for Oak Creek and Waukegan, plus the various wayfreights that work the territory, but they've also been running manifest trains due to a curfew on the Milwaukee Sub due to tie replacement. As for the Harvard Sub, since the demise of the GM plant in Janesville, that took away most of the freight from that route (A&B trains). The Geneva Sub sees the most trains of any of UP's lines in the region and also the most interference of passenger trains by freight operations.
Anyway, the bridge construction will occur, but it's been put on hold at least until Spring.
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