Great Lakes Basin Transportation plans to present its proposal for the 278-mile rail line to the U.S. Surface Transportation Board this month. The board is the chief regulator of railroads in the United States.

Wilson estimates the new tracks could save trains passing through the Chicago region as much as 24 hours each way, which would be especially helpful when they’re shipping frozen foods or apples, oranges and other produce from the West Coast. Grapes, strawberries and other fruits and vegetables grown in California and Washington state would have a longer shelf life when they finally reached supermarkets.

Railroad companies generally prefer to own their own rail lines, but the demand for a bypass around Chicago is so strong they likely would end up using the proposed Great Lakes Basin Rail Line, said Joseph Schwieterman, director of the Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development at DePaul University.

Such a project is overdue and will have to be pursued at some point, because of the projected rise in freight traffic, he said.

“It certainly goes against the grain of incremental improvements at low cost,” Schwieterman said. “But it could save shippers a lot of money.”