Great Lakes Basin Transportation Revenue

About Great Lakes Basin Transportation

25% of U.S. rail traffic passes through the Chicago rail network with 6 of the 7 Class I railroads operating ~500 freight trains daily – over 25% of which do not originate or terminate in Chicago – and Metra and Amtrak running ~800 passenger and commuter trains a day on this same network. It takes 48-72 hours for a rail car to journey from Los Angeles to Chicago, and account chronic congestion takes 32+ additional hours on average to cross this network and connect to eastern carriers. The Chicago network has been and continues to be at or near its fluid capacity with its 100+ year old routes in the densely populated city of Chicago and surrounding suburbs. Great Lakes Basin Railroad (GLBR) is a freight by-pass railroad situated 40 to 75 miles from Chicago— outside of the Metra and Amtrak Service area—designed to link the Class I and short line railroads outside of Chicago. Constructed away from villages, towns and cities and their traffic and population, the new railroad adds a safe route around the legacy network. GLBR will reduce the transit time of thru-traffic across the Chicago network by 75% or more with 70 mph operations, safer grade separated road crossings, modern traffic control systems and facilities designed for today’s longer trains, higher speeds, and heavier traffic loads. The region’s railroads aren’t sitting still. CREATE, a railroad-city-state-US DOT effort, has been working on Chicago rail congestion since 2003. By its own accounting, by 2050 it will have provided capacity for an additional 50,000 freight trains per year vs. anticipated growth of 146,000 to 182,000 additional freight trains/year. GLBR will fill this gap and more, providing new opportunities in the Chicago region. GLBT totally supports the CREATE program.

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