Chicago Flyover to eliminate rail bottleneck dedicated

The $133 million Englewood Flyover project is touted as eliminating one of the biggest rail chokepoints in the United States.

   Federal and state representatives on Thursday officially dedicated the $133 million Englewood Flyover project in Chicago, which is touted as eliminating one of the biggest rail chokepoints in the United States. 
   The flyover, which received $126 million from the Federal Railroad Administration’s High Speed Intercity Passenger Rail (HSIPR) Program, will allow up to 80 Metra trains per weekday to travel above the Norfolk Southern mainline, avoiding about 60 freight and Amtrak trains that use the mainline. 
   “The flyover will provide some relief for rail congestion in Chicago, but much work remains to be done to eliminate the issue completely,” FRA said.
   About one-third of all rail traffic in the United States travels through the Chicago region.  
   The Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) program, a partnership between the State of Illinois, Chicago, freight railroads, Metra and Amtrak, seeks to remove and reduce train congestion throughout Chicagoland. The Englewood Flyover project is one of 70 projects that make up the CREATE program. About a third of the projects within the program are completed and now funding only exists for half of the overall program, the U.S. Transportation Department said.