Solving problems with new approaches: two major Chicago projects that include replacing dozens of frogs and other special trackwork are going on literally on top of one another

Railway Track and Structures, July, 2002 by Tom Judge

In Chicago, Metra operates hundreds of double-decker trains carrying tens of thousands of riders daily in and out of Chicago Union Station and Ogilvie Transportation Center. To ensure the safety of its passengers and continued efficient operation of its trains, Metra is replacing the approaches to both stations, with some work at Ogilvie going on literally on top of work on the CUS approaches.

The two stations, located about two blocks apart just west of the Chicago River, are both getting up in years. OTC was completed as North Western Station in 1911, while CUS dates to about 1920. This marks the first full replacement of the approaches at both facilities.

Metra is paying the entire bill for Ogilvie and Union Pacific is doing the work.

Amtrak owns CUS and Metra is a tenant. So Amtrak is performing the work there, but Metra is paying 90 percent of the cost.

Because of the volume of Amtrak and Metra traffic, the work has to be done in stages.

Ogilvie approaches

At Ogilvie Transportation Center, the work has been going on for some time.

"The old Clinton Street interlocker has been undergoing rebuilding for about three years," said Bill Tupper, Metra chief engineer. "It was finally cut over last December. That's the interlocker that's right at the junction where the UP North and Northwest Lines come together with the UP West Line. There was some track rearrangement with that."

The current project involves Lake Street Interlocking, which controls the final approaches into the station and the passenger-loading platforms. Six tracks spread out to 16 tracks at the platforms. A train coming in on any of the six tracks can be slotted into any of the 16 loading tracks. The project involves replacement of 95 switches originally installed in 1911 and 56 signal devices.

"With Clinton Street, we moved things out further, got rid of the double slips and built crossovers further out," Tupper said. "You still have some of the same things in the throat, but we basically moved everything out further so we could get gas hot air blowers in there. Last year, they did all the switching they could using Clinton Street instead of Lake Street. That made things easier to operate when it was snowing."

There are 184 revenue moves every weekday at Ogilvie. With equipment moves and switchers, there are probably close to 300 train movements every weekday.

"When we started planning Clinton, we looked at the two interlocker projects as one big operation," Tupper said. "We decided there was a better way to lay out Clinton Street, so we did that. But, basically, we determined that Lake Street must retain the same configuration. We're constrained by the bridges out there, with a number of streets going under the track. The bridges are in relatively good shape, so it wasn't a good option to replace them. We had a limited number of options where the double slips were going to go, etc. Basically, we're just rebuilding it in place in a piecemeal fashion. In Metra's five-year plan from 2003 on, we have $16 million allocated for track, cables, signals, etc., in the Lake Street Interlocker. As we put in new cable, etc., tower operators will still control things with the old pistol-grip levers in the tower, and it will stay that way until the end. Even with the new microprocessor-controlled system with everything operated off the computer screen, control will still be in L ake Street Tower. Neither UP nor Metra wanted to move that operation to Omaha and tie it in with Harriman Center or anything like that. We're doing some rehab work to the tower itself, such as tuckpointing and roof repair. The building itself is in relatively decent shape."

The project is being built to UP standards, but they are replacing in kind what Chicago & North Western installed about 1911, when the station was first built.

"Approximately $1.5 million was previously allocated, so this is about an $18.5-million project," Tupper said. "We're not trying to solve all the problems of the world with this one job. We're not rebuilding the bridge decks or anything as you might do in some cases."

The Lake Street project is more complicated than Clinton Street, which is more spread out. They each have their own unique features.

"The biggest challenge is just space restraints," Tupper pointed out. "For example, we don't have any place to put hot air blowers for the switches, which is Metra's standard. We can't even put them off to the side and run ducts. There's just no room. Right now, the old gas heaters are there and we'll probably continue to use gas heaters when the project is done. We are putting in new gas lines as we work across the project."

Track 5 is now out of service.

"Basically, in the Summer, we take a track out and go down that track, replacing track and signal components," Tupper explained. "It's not like we can take, for example, Track 5 from the start of Lake Street Interlocking all the way to the bumping post in the station. You still need to leave in some crossovers so trains can go back and forth. You can't take everything out. UP has a crew of about 30 working up there. Most of the work is done on Saturday and Sunday. It sounds like a lot of people, but when you look at the tightness of the situation and that it's both track and signal, that's not a whole lot.