Blueprint America — with The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer — in a report from Chicago on the state of America’s freight rail network.
In the Midwest, Chicago has been a freight rail hub for around 150 years. In the old days, some lines brought raw materials to the city –- like cattle to the stockyards –- while others carried finished products to market. The city’s rails are still laid out that way — a couple of lines come in from the west and a couple of others from the east. Even though Chicago still handles about a third of the nation’s freight, a lot of it has to stop there –- wait there –- and shift from one railroad to another.
As a result, traffic on Chicago’s rails is even slower than traffic on its roads — A 2002 study found that freight trains pass through the city at an average of just nine miles an hour.
 A sign advertising Pabst Blue Ribbon beer lights up the surrounding freight cars parked in Chicago’s South Water Street freight terminal. || United States Library of Congress – 1943 |
There is no agency in Washington, D.C. responsible for untangling, modernizing, or maintaining the nation’s freight rail system –- or for paying for those improvements. Federal support for improving freight has to come through the back door –- tacked on to other transportation projects.
The Obama Administration’s plan for the expansion of high-speed passenger rail in several key corridors – including Chicago and the Midwest – is likely to improve the speed of freight as both kinds of trains share the same tracks in much of the country.
Correspondent Rick Karr reports.
(7 votes)
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04/24/2009 :: 02:00:09 PM
GEORGE Gibson Says:
Both passenger and freight trains need attention from the fed government. They should also be separated. High speed passenger trains need different terminals and rails from Freight. Grade crossings trains and highways has always been a safety problem. So get with it.