- Alton Junction
The Alton Junction, more commonly known as the 21st Street Crossing, is a historically significant rail location in
Chicago ,Illinois . The junction can be found just east of Canal Street and north ofCermak Road near Chicago's Chinatown. The junction, which is found just south of a massivevertical lift bridge that spans theChicago River , guards the entrance to Chicago's Union Station. While a significant amount of rail traffic still traverses this interlock everyday, it has been greatly reduced from using 26 diamonds to control over 150 trains using the crossing.The north-south line is the former Pennsylvania Railroad mainline, which is now owned and operated by
Amtrak as the southern gateway to theChicago Union Station complex. TheNorfolk Southern Chicago Line terminates at the southern entrance to the interlocking, but both NS andBurlington Northern Santa Fe trains have trackage rights over the bridge to access the BNSF east-west main line. All of Amtrak's East Coast bound and Michigan trains use this track. The east-west line now belongs to theCanadian National Railway . It at one time was owned byIllinois Central and was the carrier's route out of its Central Station to Iowa.Alton Junction was controlled by a manned interlocking tower until 2005 when Amtrak transfered control to its new Chicago Terminal control center. Known as 21St St tower, the operators handled movements through the busy plant using a
US&S Model 14 electro-pneumatic interlocking machine. In its final years 21St St took remote control of the closed Amtrak Clara St tower inNew Orleans . In 2006 the closed brick tower was demolished.Notes
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