The Status Of Elmhurst Train Station Project

ELMHURST, IL – In 2020, Elmhurst said it expected to go out to bid for a new downtown train station in spring 2021.

It has yet to happen.

On Thursday, Mayor Scott Levin was asked during a question-and-answer session after his State of the City address about the status of the new train station.

"When will we break ground? I can't say," he said. "I don't think it'll be this year. The plans will continue, the engineering will continue, but maybe next."

He explained the reasons for the delay.

"In the middle of it all, the Union Pacific Railroad told us that they gave an option to a developer to buy our train station and all the land around it and all the parking, which seemed kind of strange," Levin said. "The city manager was actually able to frustrate them to the point that they decided it wasn't worth it. Problem solved on that one."

Another reason for the delay, Levin said, was the dramatic rise in the project's costs.

In September, City Manager Jim Grabowski said the cost increased to $40 million, up from the $25 million estimate that city officials gave in 2020. Grabowski said the reasons were inflation, soil issues and delays in getting state approvals.

On Thursday, Levin said the outside agencies giving the city grants for the project indicated they would increase their "stake," so "we're back on track."

"The Illinois Department of Transportation, which has to review all the plans, is in slow mode because they're having a hard time keeping engineers," Levin said.

The station project is expected to include warming shelters, a pedestrian tunnel, a platform reconstruction and surface parking improvements.

The current station, which is considered undersized for its ridership, is the fourth busiest in the Metra system. It was built in the 1960s and updated in the 1980s.

Projections show that the station's weekday boarding will increase by a quarter by 2038.

The city has a number of partners in the project – the Department of Transportation, Metra, Union Pacific and the Pace bus agency.