Maybe this will actually be built? I can just imagine how the NIMBY’s will react.
“'Tis many a slip, twixt the cup and the lip.”
This project, no matter how much sense it might make, is so not going to happen in our lifetimes. But it is a cornacopia to attorneys and consultants.
Zardoz and NKP guy are right, alas; it will never happen. In this case, we can’t blame only the NIMBYs, even remembering their opposition to something as benign as CN taking over EJ&E. The death blow is the refusal to participate by every Class I so far. Haven’t seen a good explanation for that. CREATE sure doesn’t answer the Chicago bottleneck.
Been to a couple of the meetings for the community enlightment of this project. No class 1’s are for it. The company was not forthcoming on how they plan to get a 200 foot wide right of way, and 5 tracks over, around, through, under, at least 3 major interstates, one being 6 lanes wide. Crossing the UP and the BNSF main lines in several places, and all the other smaller county roads was brushed off as not important.
Was explained the the person who wants to do this, always wanted to build a railroad.
The State of Il is dead ass broke. If this gets started and left, then what??
Not really a “nimby” thing. Did not make the meeting down in Joliet, but a friend who went said they were told this would take thousands of semis off the the roads. Was hinted at, not said directly, that all the containers were being unloaded in Chicago and trucked to the East coast. Because it took so long to get through Chicago.
Yes–but who will fill the cornucopia so the attorneys and consultants will be satisfied?
Most of the comments and postings on prior threads on this topic suggest that the promoters haven’t thought this through very well. They failed to line up support of any of the Class 1 roads, they appear to have underestimated property acquisition and construction expenses and I’m not sure that they have any financing lined up.
Unless the promoters agree to grant overhead trackage rights to the various Class 1’s to allow direct connections with each other, this project was doomed the day it was proposed.
The original proposal that I saw was th grant those overhead trackage rights and run it like a toll road.
Johnny, regarding the cornucopia, it’ll be the same people who usually fill it…taxpayers.
Perhaps, in this case, corporate attorneys and consultants ought to be similar to criminal lawyers, and only get paid if they win!
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My question is, why does intermodal traffic have to go through Chicago? If it’s going from the west to the east coast, it seems facilities could be built anywhere in the midwest. Is it because of the intrastructure already in place in Chicago?
In addition to being a through point, a lot of intermodal traffic terminates in Chicago. The carriers are slowly developing strategies to consolidate and segregate traffic for movement to and through Chicago.
[quote user="dakotafred"]
Zardoz and NKP guy are right, alas; it will never happen. In this case, we can’t blame only the NIMBYs, even remembering their opposition to something as benign as CN taking over EJ&E. The death blow is the refusal to participate by every Class I so far. Haven’t seen a good explanation for that. CREATE sure doesn’t answer the Chicago bottleneck.
[/quote]
Posted by Ladder1 on Friday, August 05, 2016 9:09 PM
"…Been to a couple of the meetings for the community enlightment of this project. No class 1’s are for it. The company was not forthcoming on how they plan to get a 200 foot wide right of way, and 5 tracks over, around, through, under, at least 3 major interstates, one being 6 lanes wide. Crossing the UP and the BNSF main lines in several places, and all the other smaller county roads was brushed off as not important.
Was explained the the person who wants to do this, always wanted to build a railroad.
The State of Il is dead ass broke. If this gets started and left, then what??
Not really a “nimby” thing. Did not make the meeting down in Joliet, but a friend who went said they were told this would take thousands of semis off the the roads. Was hinted at, not said directly, that all the containers were being unloaded in Chicago and trucked to the East coast. Because it took so long to get through Chicago…"
[/quote]
[My Prediction] This Railroad " Super By-pass" around Chicago is going to be a Lawyer’s Win-Win, and their Win-Fall" I lived in Memphis, Tn during the “Great Battle to get I-40 Through Overton Park” in the 1950’s & 60’s…Rather than going through all that
This rail bypass won’t get built unless it gets financed. Common carrier pipelines are not financed until they obtain “take or pay” contracts, where the oil companies ship so much oil or pay anyway. If no class I railroad is interested, there is no path forward for a bypass.
if you build it they will come.
they would be crazy not to.
The crazy person would be the one who built it without commitments to use it at a price that would pay for its construction.
If what I’ve read in the past is true, there are ways to avoid Chicago. I’m sure some of them are in use.
The ultimate question would be what benefit this plan would have for the railroads. If none have bought in, one might surmise that the benefit isn’t worth the cost - and possibly by a long shot.
Plans to rebuild road/highway systems often have studies done to determine who is going where - where they enter, where they leave. Forgive me if I’ve missed them, but have such studies been done in Chi-town?
One thing that also puzzles me is why they propose to extend this loop north into Wisconsin to connect with Wisconsin & Southern. The traffic generated by that railroad can’t possibly support the capital investment for approximately 75 miles of new build road.
The GM plant in Janesville - the big traffic generator for UP back in the day - has been shut down for the better part of a decade and it will be a huge surprise if it ever comes back.
Why they would put capital into what could be best described as an expensive branch line is very puzzling.
Of course, as has been stated in previous posts in this thread, the odds of this particular project ever seeing the light of day are infinitesimally small.
Those studies resulted in something called CREATE, lots of simulation modeling.
The way I see it, there is no incentive for any of the major railroads to expedite traffic through Chicago. They are only interested in getting their trains into or out of Chicago; otherwise, it’s someone else’s problem. Now, after a couple of east-west mergers, I think they would take more of an interest.
Aha! 2+2 does = 4!
Now if CREATE could soon create a more direct route in and out for the City of New Orleans…