and CR&I lines through Brighton Park were united under a single railroad. The Panhandle route was ultimately abandoned with Conrail shifting traffic to the C&RI, ripping up the two Panhandle tracks, thus reducing the number of tracks crossing the Alton to 5. Under Conrail the CR&I was designated as an industrial track, its lowest classification. Since the PRR era crossing agreement with the Alton successor Illinois Central Railroad was still in effect, Conrail had little incentive to upgrade the signaling on the line. Modernization The modernization effort to automate the Brighton Park crossing was undertaken as part of the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency Program (CREATE) in 2007. It involved Safetran Systems, (part of Invensys Rail) with the crossing's application development, site mock-up, and preliminary factory testing taking place in Rancho Cucamonga, California in an in-house project called "Brighton Park / Pershing Main." In addition to the full automation of the crossing, additional interlocked crossovers would be installed north and south, eliminating a number of hand-operated switches. This was all done in conjunction with a centralized traffic control project on both the ex-Conrail and B&OCT lines, upgrading them from dark territory and automatic block signaling respectively. Ultimately control of the new remote crossing would pass to the Norfolk Southern railroad, who had previously employed the switchtender. Future As a part of the CREATE project, a flyover on the CN/Heritage Corridor over the Western Avenue Corridor tracks would be constructed. The flyover project would reduce congestion to the 76 freight and passenger trains that go through the diamond crossing every day. The project is currently unfunded. References External links Chicago Rail Junctions: Brighton Park CREATE Project Photos of trains passing Brighton Park Junction at Railpictures.Net Rail infrastructure in Illinois Transportation in Chicago Canadian National Railway facilities CSX Transportation Norfolk Southern Railway BNSF Railway Railway stations closed in 1984