Peoria Station

Since 2006, the Union Pacific Railroad has been pouring millions of dollars into improving and increasing capacity on its north-south mainline through the Peoria area. This is the track that skirts the west edge of Peoria, ducks under I-474 near Bartonville then follows the Illinois River for several miles before crossing it south of Pekin.

Called the “Peoria Subdivision,” the line hosts several daily loaded and empty coal trains, two to three daily mixed freights, seasonal grain, potash  and urea trains, and on the line’s northern 61 miles, up to several daily intermodal trains which link Los Angeles/Long Beach with terminals at Rochelle and Chicago. Thus, the busiest segment of this line sees as many as a dozen trains, and sometimes more, per day.

Construction of the “Edelstein connection,” a high-speed (50mph), super-elevated 4,000′ track in the northwest quadrant of the grade-separated BNSF-UP crossing, began in fall 2006. For a dozen years, UP has enjoyed trackage rights on BNSF’s Chicago -Kansas City mainline, a superior route route to its own. But until the completion of this connection, intermodal trains operating between UP’s Global 2 ( at Proviso, NW of Chicago) and Global 3 (Rochelle) terminals, could not reach this route. Now they can. The connection went into operation around May 1, 2007.  

In the photo below, a Southern California-bound Union Pacific intermodal train (left) waits on the connection track for passage of a westbound BNSF grain extra (right). Date – August 30, 2008.

The additional train traffic using the Union Pacific’s north-south route, frequently delays passage of other trains, and in fall 2007, a contractor began grading work for a 12,000′ second track that would run from near the  junction between the Edelstein Connection and main track north to a point near Speer. Construction was suspended last summer, reportedly due to a shortage of concrete crossties, brought on by severe flood damage to Union Pacific trackage along the Mississippi River. Construction resumed at the start of 2009.

Below are “before-and-after” photos looking south from Oertly Road taken March 24, 2007 and March 14, 2009, respectively.

In the photo directly above, equipment rests on the new track

Next, are photos looking north from Oertly Road, taken July 6, 2008 and March 14, 2009, respectively.

Since the second track crossed two roads at grade, one, Streitmatter Road, closed and was replaced by a new road which parallels the tracks. It is called Union Pacific Road. The second track will give Union Pacific train dispatchers and train crews more flexibility in train movement and fewer delays. Judging by the work completed thus far, it appears the new track will be in service by the end of the month.

In addition to new track construction, Union Pacific poured $6.6 million into track improvements from Nelson as far south as Peoria, including replacement and installation of 47,000 crossties, poured 46,000 tons of ballast and replaced and surfaced 33 grade crossings. The project began in mid-March 2008 and last about a month.

- David P. Jordan