Blue Island rail project to smooth freight traffic

Freight trains and motorists will be able to move more efficiently now that a $9.7 million project has been completed at the rail yard in Blue Island.

The project involved installing crossovers, tracks that allow trains to switch lanes, near Vermont Street from the CSX-Indiana Harbor Belt line that runs from Summit to Blue Island and connecting them for the first time with the CSX line that runs from Blue Island north to BNSF’s Corwith Yard in Chicago near the Stevenson Expressway, CSX communications director Carla Groleau said.

This will allow freight trains to reduce idling time, clear a crossing quicker and reduce congestion for trains and the driving public in the Chicago area, she said.

The project is part of the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) Program that will add rail capacity for the Chicago area, which is projected to see a 50 percent increase in rail freight over the next 10 years, Groleau said…Please click here to read Susan DeMar Lafferty’s full story in the Southtown Star.