Copyright 2000 Chicago Sun-Times, Inc.
Chicago
Sun-Times
September 26, 2000, TUESDAY, Late
Sports Final Edition
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 18
LENGTH: 245 words
HEADLINE:
DuPage wants to move on new rail line
BYLINE: BY DAN
ROZEK
BODY:
DuPage County officials want to get
things rolling on a $ 270 million proposal to add commuter rail
service on freight tracks that cross the northern part of the
county.
Unless the county and suburbs along the Illinois Central
Railroad line act quickly, private interests will develop land along the tracks
that's needed for stations and parking lots, DuPage County officials said
Monday. "It's a transportation opportunity in a county that doesn't have a lot
of opportunities left," said Tony Charleton, the county's development director.
"Unless we begin to look now, the land will be gone," agreed DuPage
County board member Gwen Henry.
She chairs the county's development
committee, which is seeking support for adding commuter service to help cope
with booming growth and congested roads.
Three commuter lines already
slice through DuPage County, but its northern tier of
towns -- including fast-growing Carol Stream, Addison, Bloomingdale
and Glendale Heights -- have little rail service.
Adding an
18-mile Metra line from South Elgin in Kane County to Elmhurst -- and
possibly linking it to other Metra lines to Chicago -- would improve
east-west commutes, officials said.
"We'd be interested," said Bartlett
Village Administrator Valerie Salmons, which is on the Illinois Central line.
But Salmons noted that Metra trains already stop in downtown Bartlett
and questioned the need for a second line through the south end of the suburb.
LOAD-DATE: September 26, 2000
