The Canadian National “Matteson Connection” The “Matteson Connection” railroad tracks join the east west tracks of the former EJ&E railroad (blue line on aerial photo to right) with the north-south tracks of the former Illinois Central (IC) railroad (yellow line). Take a 360 degree tour Click the panoramic picture to open a viritual tour of the Illinois Central and EJ&E interchange (pink star on aerial view). It’s just south of the Old Plank Road Trail in Matteson. • scroll wheel zooms in and out • click and drag mouse key to pan up, down & sideways Amtrak trains and METRA electric trains share the north-south right-of-way with the Canadian National (CN). Trains running from Joliet to Champaign pass over themselves if they are longer than 3/4 of a mile. A railfan train viewing platform (green star) is under construction overlooking the new connector tracks. An Illinois Central caboose will be placed on a short track segment in the railfan park. The park is a few hundred feet south of the Old Plank Road Trail (red line). More information about the railfan park can be found on the Village of Park Forest website. Train talk The “Matteson Connection” was a $30 million project according to Railway Track and Structure magazine and the “Matteson Connection” is the first CN location in the U.S. to use concrete ties. "We operate lots of train from Canada to Memphis and this is the way they will go,” said Dave Ferryman, CN vice president and system engineer. “Today, that's not an easy move for us.” “Toronto traffic going south will use this interchange,” according to Ferryman, “Virtually anything from Canada going south will move through Matteson." The number of trains hasn’t increased as fast as expected because of the economy but CN trains are much longer than the former EJ&E trains. click any picture to enlarge A 22-mile recreation and nature trail in northeastern Illinois