Boxcars Getting in the Way of High-Speed Rail

Posted by: Tim Halbur

14 December 2009 - 1:00pm

In Chicago, plans to make passenger and commuter trains faster are limited by the freight trains that share the tracks. The Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) is working to improve that relationship.

"The 71 CREATE projects are intended to make freight traffic more efficient, through track and signal upgrades, and to keep freight, passenger rail and road traffic out of each other's way."

""It's kind of invisible and hard to describe, but [CREATE] is really critical to the future of almost anything that moves by train in the country," [says Rick Harnish, executive director of the Midwest High Speed Rail Association]."

Full Story: Modern train service slowed by freight

Source: Chicago Sun-Times, December 14, 2009