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Next month, station upgrades will begin for the Union Pacific West Line improvement project, which involves the Northeast Illinois Regional Commuter Railroad Corp. (Metra) and Union Pacific Railroad.

Station upgrades will be completed in three segments, with the first two to conclude in late 2009 or early 2010, and the third to wrap up at 2010's end. The first segment covers stations in Maywood, Melrose Park, Bellwood and Berkeley; the second involves stations in Winfield and Geneva; and the third covers target stations in Elmhurst, Villa Park, Lombard, Glen Ellyn, College Avenue and Wheaton.

Metra and UP officials have studied station improvements across the country. Their upgrade plan attempts to incorporate best practices to improve safety, such as the installation of an "Another-Train Warning System (ATWS) designed to alert pedestrians that another train is approaching, additional pedestrian gates, better pedestrian flow control, inter-track fencing, brighter and more conspicuous platform signs, and the elimination of mid-platform pedestrian crossings. The ATWS system will be the first in the United States to be fully implemented at commuter-rail stations, Metra and UP said.

"The combination of station improvements and grade crossing warning devices at Metra stations will create an enhanced safety environment for pedestrians at the stations," said UP Executive Vice President of Operations Dennis Duffy in a prepared statement.

The railroads also plan to complete a third mainline on the route, which runs 44 miles from Chicago to Elburn and serves 62 communities. The project calls for installing two universal crossovers to close a 15-mile gap between existing crossovers on the line, increasing the use of multiple tracks to bypass rail congestion and upgrading a signal system. The project is scheduled to be completed in late 2011 or early 2012.

The improvements will enable other trains to operate while commuter trains are in stations, and reduce freight and passenger train delays up to 50 percent, Metra and UP said. In addition, Metra's on-time performance is projected to improve and grade crossing-gate downtime is expected to drop by about 11 percent.

"These improvements will help create a more fluid railroad operation, decrease commuter and freight delays, and reduce motorist wait time at grade crossings," said Metra Executive Director Phil Pagano.