The Belt Railway of Chicago , headquartered in Chicago, is the largest intermediate switching terminal railroad in the United States. It is co-owned by six Class I railroads — Burlington Northern Santa Fe, Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, CSX, Norfolk Southern, and Union Pacific — each of which uses the switching and interchange facilities of the BRC. As Chicago is the largest central hub of the railroad industry, rail cars seldom travel cross-country without passing through Chicago. Owner lines and other railroads bring their trains to the Belt Railway to be separated, classified, and re-blocked into new trains for departure. The BRC also provides rail terminal services to approximately 100 local manufacturing industries. The company employs about 520 people, including its own police force.
BRC Trackage
The BRC has 28 miles of mainline route with interchanges to each of its owner railroads, and over 300 miles of switching tracks. The vast majority of the latter are located in the Clearing Yard.
Clearing Yard
The Clearing Yard, located on the boundary between Chicago and Bedford Park, Illinois, just south of Midway Airport, is one of the largest hump classification facilities in the United States. Some 5.5 miles in length and covering 786 acres, the yard supports more than 250 miles of track. It has six main subdivisions: arrival, classification, and departure yards, in both eastbound and westbound directions.
At the heart of the yard is the bridge-shaped tower which straddles the hump and controls the switches and retarders of both east- and westbound classification yards to either side of it. Using computer controls, the hump tower efficiently dispatches more than 8,400 rail cars per day. Operating around the clock, employees are able to classify between 40 and 50 miles of consists daily.
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