From The Washington Post
CHICAGO — This city was built on railroads that moved meat from its famous packing houses, steel from its mills, corn from surrounding fields. Today Chicago is still the nation’s leading rail hub, with about 37,500 rail cars passing through daily.
But massive congestion on Chicago tracks costs millions of dollars in shipping delays, and it causes substantial noise and air pollution as trains idle for hours, waiting for track clearance. The problem threatens to get worse since freight traffic is expected to double in the next 20 years.
With a public-private partnership and stimulus money, Chicago civic leaders are hoping to unsnarl their rail traffic and maintain the city’s self-proclaimed status as the “world’s rail capital.”