From the junction with the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad at Colehour Junction (MP 0.0), the single track, CTC, line heads south, maximum speed 40 mph, with the east leg of the wye trailing in on the east side, past a 20 mph speed restriction on the curve at 103rd Street, curves southwest and then south again, a curve south-southwest, where the maximum speed for passenger trains increases to 60 mph, 400 feet "west" of MP 2, and a curve south again, and industrial tracks trailing in on the west side, at Hegewisch (MP 3.9), where the maximum speed for freight trains drops to 35 mph, an Indiana Harbor Belt line leaving on the east side at Wolf Lake Junction (MP 4.3), and flat crossings with the South Shore Line, Monon?, Wabash and Nickel Plate at Burnham (MP 4.6), where the line jogs south-southwest and the maximum speed for freight trains reverts to 40 mph.
The line turns just west of due south, with a line from the west end of the (now N&W) Burnham Yard running alongside to the east, past a 25 mph speed restriction on the curve "west" of Bridge 4.76, and 30 mph on the curve "east" of the bridge, and the 47-car siding and flat crossings with the B&OCT, Michigan Central/IHB and IHB at Calumet Park (MP 5.5), turning south past Liberty, a northwest leg of the wye at Bernice, on the west side, and at 528 feet "west" of Bernice, the maximum speed reducing to 30 mph for the curve south-southeast at the junction with the PRR Panhandle line at Bernice (MP 9.3).