Plans are in the works for construction that could improve the travels of Union Station passengers, CTA Blue Line riders and Eisenhower Expressway commuters.
State and local agencies are seeking grants from the recently passed federal infrastructure law for an overhaul of Union Station and construction on I-290 and the Forest Park branch of the CTA Blue Line that runs down the expressway. The grants have not yet been approved, but if the projects move forward they could ultimately speed up Amtrak and Blue Line travel, and lay the groundwork for a broader rebuild of the Eisenhower Expressway.
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City, state and federal officials recently called on the Biden administration to approve the grant for Union Station. Additional details about the proposed $418 million project show that it would include an overhaul of the concourse level of the station, and putting at least three additional unused platforms into service to boost capacity.
The application for the grant, which would cover more than half the cost of the proposed project, comes as Amtrak looks to expand service across the Midwest and out of Chicago, a major rail hub. Union Station served more than 3 million Amtrak passengers annually pre-pandemic and also serves Metra commuter passengers.
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One step toward accommodating the envisioned expansion is returning the old platforms to use. Set near the Chicago River outside the station’s south concourse, they once served trains carrying U.S. Postal Service mail. Unused for years, the remnants of booths and unneeded station infrastructure sit decaying along the platforms, where support beams still have written on their sides the numbers and destinations of old routes. The tracks alongside are used for train storage.
Rehabbing the platforms and making them usable for passenger trains could nearly double Amtrak’s daily capacity out of the south concourse, spokesman Marc Magliari said. It could also allow Amtrak to relocate some trains, such as the busy Hiawatha service to Milwaukee, from the north side of the station to the south, freeing up additional space out of the north concourse for Metra passengers.
Work on the station concourse would involve opening it up to improve the flow of passengers. Amtrak is looking for a designer for the project, and construction could begin as soon as 2025, if funding comes through. Platform capacity would also be expanded.
The grant also calls for track construction outside Union Station that is intended to shorten the running time of some trains, and reshuffling the tracks on which some trains run. Eventually, the work could create a path for service from O’Hare International Airport to McCormick Place.
The Illinois Department of Transportation and CTA are also seeking federal funding for about $660 million in work along the Eisenhower. CTA is looking to rebuild the Blue Line tracks from a location near the Austin station to Cicero Avenue. The work will eliminate slow zones along the tracks, allowing trains to travel at typical speeds and providing a smoother ride.
CTA is planning to rebuild the Austin and Cicero Blue Line stations to make them fully handicap accessible, part of an ongoing program to make all CTA stations accessible, spokesman Brian Steele said.
The grant application also includes work along the Eisenhower to improve drainage on the expressway and help with flooding in nearby communities, IDOT spokeswoman Maria Castaneda said.
The drainage work would set the stage for a long-discussed rebuild, expansion and reconfiguration of parts of the highway, she said.
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The larger rebuild is not yet funded, and no timeline has been set to seek grants for the project. A 2017 estimate put the cost of the rebuild at $3.2 billion, and the price tag has likely increased since then, Castaneda said.
“We are closely watching the rollout of funding options to come as part of the federal (infrastructure law),” she said in an email.
sfreishtat@chicagotribune.com
