The Freeport Subdivision is a railroad line in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...

which runs from 16th Street in downtown

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

to Freeport, Illinois. It is owned and operated by the

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I railroad, Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern United States, M ...

(CN). the line is almost exclusively freight-only, with only a small segment within Chicago, between 21st Street in Chinatown and Ashland Avenue in

Bridgeport Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the List of cities by population in New England, fifth-most populous ...

, hosting

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada ...

and

Metra Metra is the commuter rail system in the Chicago metropolitan area serving the city of Chicago and its surrounding suburbs via the Union Pacific Railroad, BNSF Railway, and other railroads. The system operates 242 stations on 11 rail lines. ...

passenger trains. The line is long. At its east end it joins with the St. Charles Air Line and the

Chicago Subdivision The Chicago Subdivision or Chicago Sub is a railroad line in Illinois that runs about from Chicago to Aurora and hosts Metra's BNSF Railway Line commuter service. It is operated by BNSF Railway as the easternmost part of the railroad's Northe ...

in Chicago's

South Loop The Loop, one of Chicago's 77 designated community areas, is the central business district of the city and is the main section of Downtown Chicago. Home to Chicago's commercial core, it is the second largest commercial business district in Nort ...

. From there to the interchange with the Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad in

Broadview, Illinois Broadview is a village in Cook County, Illinois, west of downtown Chicago. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 7,998. History Broadview was incorporated as a village in 1914. Government * Mayor: Katrina Thompson * Clerk: Kevin R. Mc ...

, it is double-tracked and CTC-controlled. From Broadview to Freeport, Illinois, it is single-tracked and controlled by CTC. The maximum speed over the line is . The section between 16th Street and 21st Street mostly handles traffic between CN's Chicago yards; Amtrak trains such as the '' City of New Orleans'' also use it when the St. Charles Air Line is out of service. The

Illinois Central Railroad The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, was a railroad in the Central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama. A line also ...

opened its line between Chicago and Freeport in 1891, giving it a direct route between Chicago and

Iowa Iowa () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wiscon ...

. The Illinois Central Gulf Railroad, successor to the Illinois Central, sold the line between Hawthorne Yard in

Cicero, Illinois Cicero (originally known as Hawthorne) is a suburb of Chicago and an incorporated town in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 85,268. making it the 11th largest municipality in Illinois. The town of Cic ...

, and Freeport (and on to Iowa) in 1985 to the Chicago Central and Pacific Railroad. The Illinois Central, after dropping the "Gulf" portion of its name in the late 1980s, reacquired the route in 1996. The IC operated the Illinois Central West Line on this subdivision in 1892 before discontinuing it in 1931. It also operated passenger trains on the subdivision until the startup of Amtrak on May 1, 1971; Amtrak did not retain the Chicago–

Sioux City, Iowa Sioux City () is a city in Woodbury and Plymouth counties in the northwestern part of the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 85,797 in the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Iowa. The bulk of the city is in Woodbury County, ...

, '' Hawkeye''. Passenger service returned on February 14, 1974, with the introduction of the '' Black Hawk'' between Chicago and

Dubuque, Iowa Dubuque (, ) is the county seat of Dubuque County, Iowa, United States, located along the Mississippi River. At the time of the 2020 census, the population of Dubuque was 59,667. The city lies at the junction of Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin, a r ...

. This service ended on September 30, 1981.

Notes

References

* *

External links

* * {{OSM relation, 8433697 Canadian National Railway lines Illinois Central Railroad Rail lines in Illinois Railway lines opened in 1891