Ties, Ballast & Switch Heaters BNS

This map shows the location of the project. For projects that do not have a specific location but affect a line/route or the entire system, either the affected lines/routes are shown, or an entire service area map is shown.

If you select the option to “toggle the benefit layer,” you will see an approximation of the area that will benefit from the project.

The degree to which a project improves regional access to the region’s key destinations. Including jobs, retail, healthcare, recreation, and education.

The project improvements to existing assets to make them partially or fully accessible. Including station/stop and area improvements, vehicle accessibility, and accessible communications.

The project impact to ratings from the FTA Transit Economic Requirements Model (TERM).

The project’s minor or major benefits to riders and what proportion of the agency’s riders will benefit from it.

The project impact on overall capacity, reflecting current and planned levels of utilization.

The project impact on reductions or offsets to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions generated from transit operations.

Project impacts on land use and development, construction, and long-term jobs.

The distribution of project benefits to location(s) identified under the USDOT Justice40 Program.

The project impact to maintenance or improvement of exposure to risk for riders/employees and the project impact to security enhancement.

The project impact on operating costs.

The project impact to maintenance or improvement of exposure to risk for riders/employees and the project impact to security enhancement.

Project impact on maintenance or improvement of service speed and reliability, considering both direct and indirect impacts.

If required, whether or not the project complies with federal, state, local, or other regulatory mandates.

The project impact to climate benefits, such as a reduction in emissions, generated from mode shift to transit and away from private auto-use.

The Project impact to average vehicle ages, compared with Service board benchmarks to prioritize replacing vehicles that are beyond their useful life.

Evaluation Metric Measure
Access to Key Destinations ? Maintains Access to Key Destinations
Accessibility Improvement(s) ? Project is not related to accessibility
Asset Condition (FTA TERM Rating) ? Asset(s) rated below 2
Benefit to Riders ? Helps to maintain current benefits to riders
Capacity Benefit and Need ? Project maintains/returns system to original capacity
Climate Agency Operating Impacts ? Project does not effect GHG emissions
Economic Impact ? Small impact on economic development
Equity Based on Residential Geography ? Project is not location specific or benefits entire service area
Impact on Customer and Employee Safety ? Project indirectly provides safety benefit/improvement
Impact on Operating Cost ? No Change
Impact on System Security ? Project does not impact security
Impact to Service Speed/Reliability ? Moderately improves current speed/reliability
Regulatory Requirements ? Yes
Ridership/Mode Shift Impacts ? Maintains assets necessary for transit ridership
Vehicle Useful Life ? Asset is not a vehicle with a useful life

Project Description

This project funds the replacement of ties, the cleaning or replacement of ballast, and the replacement of switch components and heaters. Periodically replacing ties and ballast is necessary to maintain proper track gauge and surface conditions. This project improves the riding quality of the trains and reduces the incidence of slow orders, which can impact the ability to maintain on-time performance. Metra provides funds to the BNSF Railroad to improve the track along the BNSF Line and rail yard facilities.