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Yesterday, Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) Program partners announced the first of five Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Program-funded projects is well under way.

The Broadview/LaGrange signalization project (CREATE projects B4/B5) calls for installing a new bi-directional computerized Traffic Control System along a seven-mile segment of the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Co.’s line and upgrading 21 hand-throw switches to power switches. The $100 million TIGER grant will cover $11.7 million of the project’s $13.7 million cost with the remainder paid for by the CREATE program’s freight railroads.

Currently, most trains spend up to two hours traversing the limits of the project area because of the hand-throw switches and restricted speeds, CREATE partners said in a prepared statement. The signal improvements will enable trains to move through the segment in as few as 20 minutes, they said. In addition, train speed will increase from between 1 mph and 20 mph to 30 mph and trains will have more options for entering and exiting Proviso Yard.

“The signal system upgrades will provide greater visibility, enabling train dispatchers to know the exact locations of trains in the area,” CREATE partners said. “This enhances the dispatcher's ability to route more trains through the territory, expanding overall capacity.”

About 25 percent of the nation’s rail traffic travels through the Chicago region and the CREATE program aims to alleviate major bottlenecks along the region’s freight- and passenger-rail corridors. The public/private partnership program includes more than 46 rail and 25 grade separation projects that call for restructuring, modernizing and expanding Chicago’s rail network.

CREATE partners include Amtrak, the Association of American Railroads, Belt Railway Co. of Chicago, BNSF Railway Co., CSX Transportation, CN, Canadian Pacific, Indiana Harbor Belt, Metra, Norfolk Southern Railway, Union Pacific Railroad, and the Illinois and Chicago Departments of Transportation.