MAYWOOD, Ill. — Track construction is scheduled to begin Tuesday, Oct. 8, between River Forest and Union Pacific’s Proviso Yard as UP and Metra close one of the two gaps in the otherwise triple-track Union Pacific line from downtown Chicago to Elburn, Ill.
The project will build a third track in a 1.8-mile stretch between Vale, near the River Forest Metra station, and Provo Junction at the east end of Proviso yard. Metra says the construction is scheduled to continue through spring 2020. As part of the work, inbound Metra passengers boarding at the Maywood station will be asked to use a temporary platform west of Fifth Avenue while the third track is built through the current platform area.
The Fifth Avenue grade crossing will also be closed beginning Oct. 8, with reopening anticipated by Oct. 11.
Preliminary work is under way to close the other gap in the triple-track main line, a 6.1-mile section through Geneva, Ill., extending from Kress in West Chicago on the east to Peck, near La Fox, on the west. [See “UP aims to begin triple-tracking near Geneva, Ill., in spring 2020,” Trains News Wire, May 14, 2019.]
