Waiting for a train to go by is never a motorist’s favorite way to pass the time. But for the past several weeks drivers coming to the Union Pacific Railroad crossings in Elgin have been dismayed to see the train passing in front of them slow down and slow down and slow down until it finally comes to a complete stop for a minute or two before starting again on its way.
But that minor traffic inconvenience will seem like a speed bump compared to the headaches that will start Sept. 28, as Route 31 (State Street) is completely closed for a week at that street’s rail crossing between Chicago and Locust streets.
The Union Pacific’s West Chicago-to-Rockford branch line is a one-track, unsignalized freight line that old-time Elginites remember as “the High North Western.” It got that nickname from the days when it was part the Chicago & North Western Railway. But the line originally was called the Galena & Chicago Union Railway. And when it reached Elgin in 1850, it not only was the first railroad to serve Elgin, it was the first railroad extending west of Chicago.
Since then the line’s profile has declined. Almost all the line’s freight now consists of “auto rack” — cars carrying autos built at the Chrysler assembly plant in Belvidere. Only a few trains a day pass down the track. But now that they are stopping en route they have become a chronic inconvenience as they block crossings at Schiller Street, Wing Street, Lawrence Avenue, Washington Street and National Street.
Union Pacific spokeswoman Calli Hite was unable to find out Friday what is causing the trains to stop. But City Engineer Joe Evers said he believes the trains are stopping briefly because of construction work a state contractor has been performing where the track crosses State Street, near Locust Street.
Evers said water draining off the street pavement there has undermined the track in the past, so the contractor has been working to install a new catch basin and drainage system.
The railroad probably is requiring each train to stop at the State Street crossing while its crew determines that no construction workers are on the track and that the track has not been washed out or covered by a mudslide, Evers said.
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Meanwhile, Evers said, the railroad notified city officials recently that beginning Sept. 28 State Street will have to be closed at the crossing for seven days while the crossing surface is rebuilt. During that time, Evers said, Route 31 traffic will be detoured through downtown Elgin via Route 20, Bluff City Boulevard, Liberty Street, Chicago Street and Highland Avenue.
Late one night about 25 years ago, before the State Street crossing was equipped with gates that lowered, a driver on the street was killed when her car was struck by a northbound freight train. The locomotive pushed her car hundreds of feet down the track all the way to the railroad’s bridge over Chicago Street, where the car fell off and plunged about 10 feet to the street below.
If the proposed new Amtrak route from Chicago to Rockford and Dubuque becomes reality, those passenger trains will use the Union Pacific line from Elgin to the west. However, they will travel along Metra’s Milwaukee District West Line from Chicago to Elgin.