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1
SENATE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, Metra's Western Avenue Crossing, known as A-2,
3located 2 miles west of the Loop at Western Avenue and Kinzie
4Street, is where Union Pacific-owned tracks from the Ogilvie
5Transportation Center headed west cross over Metra-owned
6tracks from Union Station headed northwest; and
 
7    WHEREAS, A-2 impacts 7 of Metra's 11 routes, as the Union
8Pacific West, the Milwaukee District West, the Milwaukee North,
9and North Central travel over A-2, while the empty trains for
10the Union Pacific North, Union Pacific Northwest, Southwest
11Service, and Heritage Corridor trains need to travel over A-2
12to access their maintenance shops for service; and
 
13    WHEREAS, 350 trains cross paths at A-2 every day and rely
14on A-2 working smoothly for on-time performance; and
 
15    WHEREAS, A-2 was designed and built in the 1930s with
16interlocking switching equipment powered by air compression
17for the 3,000 switches which are now functionally obsolete; and
 
18    WHEREAS, Cold weather is particularly damaging to the
19functionality of the A-2 air compression switching system, as
20the switches freeze and ice falls from trains and locks
21switches in place, halting the ability of trains to move

 

 

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1through the crossing; and
 
2    WHEREAS, Many of Metra's winter weather delays this year
3are attributable to A-2; and
 
4    WHEREAS, A-2 is like 2 interstate highways meeting at a
5stoplight, as trains headed in one direction must wait for
6trains to pass through headed in the other direction, which is
7inherently inefficient; and
 
8    WHEREAS, The best way to solve the A-2 crossing problem is
9a flyover bridge to permanently separate the tracks, similar to
10the Chicago Transit Authority's plan recently released to build
11a flyover bridge permanently separating the Brown Line tracks
12from the Red and Purple Line tracks north of Belmont; and
 
13    WHEREAS, Other options include updating the 1930s era
14switching equipment to modern standards or moving the crossing
15a mile east; therefore, be it
 
16    RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL
17ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we recognize the A-2
18crossing as a major bottleneck for passenger rail service, both
19for Metra and for Amtrak; and be it further
 
20    RESOLVED, That we show our support for federal, State, and

 

 

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1any private investments to eliminate the delays in the A-2
2crossing and provide better Metra and Amtrak service for the
3residents of Illinois.