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Yesterday, Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) Program partners issued a newsletter detailing several advances and one setback incurred by the program in 2011.

One advance: updating and rerunning a Rail Traffic Control (RTC) simulation model of Chicago's freight- and passenger-rail network, according to the partners, which include Amtrak, the Association of American Railroads, Belt Railway Co. of Chicago, BNSF Railway Co., CSX Transportation, CN, Canadian Pacific, Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad Co., Metra, Norfolk Southern Railway, Union Pacific Railroad, and the Illinois and Chicago Departments of Transportation.

“We used this model to evaluate the benefits of the projects completed to date, as well as the future benefits anticipated by completing all the freight- and passenger-rail projects in the CREATE Program,” the partners wrote in a news item. “This new simulation takes into account a number of changes since the model was initially run in 2003, including increases in Metra and Amtrak passenger-rail volumes, and changes in freight-rail volumes and routings.”

The RTC simulation showed the program has resulted in a 28 percent reduction in freight-rail delays and 33 percent drop in passenger delays compared with the base case of no projects yet built, they said. If all CREATE projects are built, freight delays in 20 years would be reduced by 50 percent compared to performance with only the 16 funded projects, and passenger delays in 20 years would be cut by two thirds, the partners added.

“If no CREATE projects were built, within 15 years, Chicago's rail capacity constraint would be so severe that shippers would have to use alternatives such as shipping via truck or rail through other cities, and passenger-rail users would also suffer more significant impacts,” they wrote.

The public/private partners also marked the completion of a $19.5 million railroad modernization project in 2011 as part of the overall program, which includes more than 46 rail and 25 grade separation projects that call for restructuring, modernizing and expanding Chicago’s rail network. Completed in November in Alsip and Blue Island, Ill., the project included the construction of a third mainline along a Indiana Harbor Belt line, upgrades to existing track at interlockings, a new rail bridge over 127th Street and associated signal work. The work will help reduce grade crossing delays in a highly congested south suburban corridor, and enable freight trains to move through the area more quickly and efficiently, the partners said.

In addition, three key grade separation projects were under construction last year: a Metra/BNSF grade separation in Downers Grove, Ill.; the elimination of crossings on two NS main tracks in Chicago; and the separation of four CSXT and Indiana Harbor Belt tracks in Bridgeview, Ill.

However, one more potential feather in the program’s cap failed to materialize in late 2011. Program partners had sought a $26.4 million Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery III (TIGER III) grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation, but were denied among stiff competition for the funds. The TIGER III grant would have leveraged $22.6 million in state, local and railroad funding to allow the completion of a total of $49 million worth of improvements, the partners said.

“The need for additional CREATE funding remains and we will continue to aggressively pursue opportunities as they become available in 2012,” they said.