Note: This message originally appeared on another list, but I'm forwarding it here, for a long overdue update on the UPW extension project:
In extending service west from Geneva to Elburn, the UP required the installation of a "third main," which is being installed along the south side of the present-day double track main from the intersection of Keslinger and Peck Roads in Geneva (an overhead intersection located at MP 38.1) to a point just east of 1st St in Elburn (MP 43.88). The extension will consist of two stations, La Fox (MP 40.9) and Elburn (MP 43.6) -- both of which will be accessed off Keslinger Rd (thus avoiding heavy traffic through the downtown areas of either town). A coachyard (consisting of eight trks with room for two additional trks) will be located betw MP 42.5 and 43.3. The coachyard will replace the present-day practice trainsets in West Chicago. The triple-track section will be accessed by interlockings west of MP 38.1 and 44.1.
As for the La Fox station, the depot is nearly complete. The ADA ramps has had its canopies installed and the island platform betw trks 1 & 2 had also been installed. The warming shelter was also finished -- although the psgr platform along the south side of MT3 has not yet been stalled, as had the station lighting. There is AN ABSOLUETELY HUGE parking lot located south of the tracks (which can be expanded along the north side of the tracks as well) is well underway and the lighting and landscaping is nearly completion.
Our next stop was the Elburn Coachyard. When we visited the site in September, grading for the facility had just begun. Well, it has come a long way! Trks have been installed, the support facilities are being erected and the service platforms are being completed. There are ladder tracks located at both ends of the yard and each trk can handle two trains (don't quote me, but if I recall correctly, each trn can be at least ten cars in length). The rail in the yard is genuine, honest-to-goodness Wabash rail, relocated from the Southwest Service line south of 143rd St. (The Wabash had single-tracked their line betwn 123rd and 143rd in the early 1960s.)
We then headed west into Elburn. Contracts for the construction of the Elburn station had just been signed within the last month and the grading has been completed and construction has started. Since this is being built with federal money, there is a deadline attached to it, and as I understand it, service MUST start before the end of this year, although work will probably continue along for about another year.