I just finished rereading an article in a 2003 Trains magazine about the Chicago CREATE project designed to relieve rail congestion in the greater Chicago area. I then found the CREATEPROGRAM.ORG website and saw that real progress is being made with many of the improvement objectives. Finally, I found a new article in July 2015 Trains magazine discussing the accomplishments thus far.
What are you forumite Chicagoland railroaders seeing for yourself?
Rob,
I live about a 1/2 mile from the former EJ&E (Elgin, Joliet & Eastern) belt line that goes around the outer suburbs of Chicago, that CN bought several years ago, in late 2008. Starting in early 2009, their number of trains taking this line has jumped up significantly, from ~ 5 a day to ~ 17-20 a day. And that's single-track in my area. So they're definitely using it to reduce congestion in the inner city areas.
I like hearing them rumbling down the street when I'm outside doing yard work. Reminds me of being a kid just a few blocks from an old hump yard in south side Chicago, hearing the freight cars squealing through the hump brakes and slamming into the stationary strings of cars.
Tom
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