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Wisconsin & Southern Railroad Co. (WSOR) trains heading to Chicago soon will be moving a tad faster and carrying heavier rail cars.

The 700-mile regional is putting the finishing touches on a rail replacement project between Avalon and Walworth, Wis., that will enable the railroad to remove numerous slow orders and increase train speed to 25 mph or more, and accommodate 286,000-pound cars.

Crews are installing 14 miles of 115-pound continuous-welded rail on the line in the Fox Lake Subdivision, which handles more than 65,000 cars and about 6 million tons of freight annually.

The line is part of WSOR's mainline corridor from Wisconsin to the Belt Railway Co. of Chicago's Clearing Yard in Bedford Park, Ill., where WSOR interchanges most of its Chicago traffic with the Class Is. The regional provides daily service between Janesville, Wis., and Chicago.

The rail replacement is the last phase of a larger project that included replacing more than 20,000 wood ties, reconstructing 12 grade crossings and upgrading six bridges.