Perspective on CREATE

Chicago Business Today provides some perspective on the CREATE program and the funding challenges for completing each of it's 71 projects (formerly 78 projects until CN acquired the EJ&E railway). I am aware that this blog devotes quite a bit of attention to news on CREATE, but the full realization of this program will have an enormous impact on the frequency and punctuality of passenger rail travel in the Midwest and the future of American HSR.

CREATE's $3 billion grand total has thus far acquired funding from:

• Class I railroads ($232 million collectively committed, half has been received)
• State of Illinois ($10 million received and an additional $400 million committed from the capital construction program, which is now in doubt with the state's budget woes)
• Federal Stimulus funds ($100 million TIGER Grant and $133 million for Englewood Flyover)
  
• 2005 Congressional earmark ($100 million)
  

Below, Senator Durbin speaks at the site of the new Englewood flyover and the impact it will have on HSR, while CREATE project manager, Jeffrey Sriver, highlights some of the funding challenges-

CREATE: Englewood flyover construction

As many as 1,500 new jobs could be created from construction of the flyover at 63rd and State in the Englewood section Chicago. The flyover will separate Metra from Norfolk Southern tracks that carries southbound Amtrak train. The project is part of the CREATE program and was funded with $133 million in stimulus dollars. The completed flyover will eliminate the daily conflict between 78 Metra Rock Island trains and approximately 60 freight and Amtrak trains.


Below, the project is announced by Mayor Daley and Gov. Quinn reinforces the importance of rail infrastructure to Illinois' role as an inland port.

A new Union Station is on the way!

Today, the Tribune's Blair Kamin reported on the Amtrak sponsored contest to redevelop Chicago's Union Station, one of Amtrak's most valuable assets, for the first time since it's 1992 renovation by Lucien Lagrange Architects of Chicago.
The firms chosen to compete are:

1. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (Chicago)
2. U.S. Equities Realty (Chicago)
3. Jones Lang LaSalle (Chicago)
4. Goody Clancy (Boston)
5. Wallace Roberts & Todd (Philadelphia)
6. Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn (New York)
7. KlingStubbins (Cambridge, MA and New York)
   

Late last month, the Tribune called for a redevelopment of Union Station to accommodate the increased ridership that will result from Chicago's position as the hub for high speed trains in the Midwest. Hopefully a strong proposal by one of the above 7 firms, will help secure additional TIGER funding, the same way New York was awarded $85 million for Phase 1 of Moynihan Station.

Today's announcement arrives on the heels of last week's TIGER grants, which will support high impact CREATE programs, such as the 75th Street Corridor project, that will shift Metra SouthWest Service trains to LaSalle Street station in order to free up Union Station for increased Amtrak and Metra service.

You can help the cause for a modernized Union Station by sending an email to Mayor Daley, via the Midwest HSR Association's proposal for Union Station as Chicago's downtown airport.

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On a separate, but Midwest related note, the EPA will invest $2.2 billion for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Action Plan which was signed by President Bush in 2002, to clean up their polluted beaches and water.

Final list of TIGER grants and news from St. Paul

Sect. Ray LaHood remarks on the recently released TIGER Grants -- The White House's official release on the grants -- For a complete list of TIGER Grants - click here

Midwestern rail projects include:

• Project NameState(s) TIGER Grant Amount
• CREATE Program Projects IL $ 100,000,000
• National Gateway Freight Rail Corridor OH, PA, WV, MD $ 98,000,000
• Kansas City Transit Corridors & Green Impact Zone Project MO, KS $ 50,000,000
• Saint Paul Union Depot Multi-Modal Transit and Transportation Hub MN $ 35,000,000
• M1/Woodward Avenue Light Rail Project MI $ 25,000,000
• Normal Multimodal Transportation Center IL $ 22,000,000
• Kent Central Gateway Multimodal Transit Facility OH $ 20,000,000
• Ames Intermodal Facility IA $ 8,463,000
• The Southwestern Illinois Intermodal Freight Transportation Hub IL 6,000,000$

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Meanwhile the Star Tribune highlights the $35 million just received for the St. Paul Union Depot.

Federal dollars for Illinois and Wisconsin rail projects

"The federal grant, being announced Wednesday, will be used to fund the 16 rail projects under the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency program, CREATE.

It's intended to unclog bottlenecks that cause freight trains to take a day or longer to pass through Chicago and block passenger trains and vehicles.

The program includes overpasses or underpasses and track and signal improvements, including a bridge to separate rail and road traffic to be built at an existing rail crossing on 71st Street in Bridgeview.

The projects will cut rail transit delays by 57,631 passenger hours per year and reduce motorist delays by 344,499 hours annually for a combined savings of nearly $10 million per year, according to CREATE, a public-private partnership of railroads and Chicago and state transportation agencies.

Train delays cost shippers $265 million a year, CREATE estimates."

Thank you to The Tribune for the story

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Milwaukee's Journal Sentinel reports that "The Legislature's Joint Finance Committee agreed Tuesday to accept $822 million in federal stimulus funds for high-speed rail linking Madison, Milwaukee and Chicago, but not before lawmakers wrangled over whether the project was necessary.

The funds had been sought by Gov. Jim Doyle to link the three cities - and potentially the Twin Cities. The vote represents the final action for Wisconsin to tap the stimulus funding for rail.

The vote broke down two ways - lawmakers voted 12-4 for $810 million to build the rail system and 16-0 for improvements on the existing rail line between Milwaukee and Chicago."

On the eve of something big...

It can be best to distract yourself from the anxiety of waiting to see what you'll wake up to. Perhaps we could use a distraction from the tension leading to tomorrow's BIG decision by the IOC about which city will host the 2016 Summer Olympics, so like a kid on Christmas Eve, I have a few things to pass the time until that decision comes down from Copenhagen.

First is a great post by the INFRASTRUCTURIST about Google's new 3D tour of old Penn Station.



Second is an interesting article by The Tribune's Blair Kamin, who says, "Chicago is not floating plans for major infrastructure improvements, like those that transformed Barcelona for the 1992 Games." I am optimistic that the reception of the bid will be a catalyst for those infrastructure improvements, not just in Chicago, but throughout the Midwest, that have long been talked about, but have lacked the necessary funding or hard deadline to get them built.

Finally, our own Rick Harnish spoke today at the Northwestern University Transportation Center about the future of HSR in the US. I had the pleasure the being there and listening not only to Rick, but to a great Q&A afterward that touched on everything from CREATE, freight, rail in Indiana, Cost Benefit Analysis of HSR and a range of other hot button issues.

All that remains to be seen now, is whether Chicago will be adding a fifth star to it's flag.

CREATE update

Thank you to Progressive Railroading for the info --

The Association of American Railroads, Federal Highway Administration, Illinois Department of Transportation and Chicago Department of Transportation recently agreed to modify the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) program to meet Canadian National’s needs.

The parties eliminated the full Central Corridor between CN’s Waukesha and Chicago subdivisions because CN no longer requires the route after acquiring an alternate corridor through the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway transaction.




Major portions of the Central Corridor’s southern half will be retained to provide a new direct route — over the NS Chicago Line — for Amtrak trains traveling from New Orleans and Carbondale to Chicago Union Station. The route portions will minimize impacts to Amtrak and freight trains already using the line, according to CREATE organizers, who are seeking federal stimulus dollars for the more than $1.5 billion program. The program calls for developing one passenger-rail and four freight-rail corridors to reduce train delays, relieve rail and highway congestion, shorten commuters' travel times, and improve Chicago’s environment and public safety.