Midwest Regional Rail Initiative

[Mister Uptempo]

Originally Posted by Centropolis

ugh. what is that, a 10 mph improvement?

Yeah, right around an 11 to 12MPH improvement.

The scheduled improvements are supposed to knock 30 mins. off the trip in 2015, and an additional 30 minutes in 2017, so a 5.5 hour trip will be made in 4.5 hours.

It doesn't help that it takes 50-57 mins. to get 37 miles over the Heritage Corridor(providing there are no delays, which there often are), from Union Station to Joliet, or with the interim improvements along the 3rd Street corridor in Springfield, the maximum speeds there only increase from 25MPH to 40MPH, and God knows how long it will take to complete the last leg into St. Louis. Currently, the 27 miles between Alton and St. Louis take about an hour.

If they could eventually knock the CHI-JOL time down to 30 mins(which might be asking a lot, as it currently takes over an hour to get to Joliet via the Rock Island[admittedly with a lot of stops], which is the preferred future route of that segment), cut 10 mins. out of Springfield(through the planned Springfield Flyover and the 10th Street consolidation project), and another 20 mins. getting into St. Louis, the average speed over the Lincoln Service increases to 81MPH.

[Mister Uptempo]

Originally Posted by k1052

Looking through the presentation it seems that he counted no additional money for the flyover at 16th or a realigned bridge over the yard included in the Cross Rail proposal so I guess it could be that or longer. Totally a bad idea though.

The presentation lacks specificity, but on slide 16 of the presentation it states:

Metra Express
$1B investment mainly to connect the existing Metra Electric District (ME) with North Central Service (NCS) through Chicago Union Station

It doesn't state whether that means the 16th Street Connector, the through tracks at Union Station(as is proposed in Union Station's Master Plan), or both. I took it to mean at least the Connector.

[k1052]

Originally Posted by Mister Uptempo

The presentation lacks specificity, but on slide 16 of the presentation it states:



It doesn't state whether that means the 16th Street Connector, the through tracks at Union Station(as is proposed in Union Station's Master Plan), or both. I took it to mean at least the Connector.

The route assumptions on slide 5 indicated "no additional capital improvement times" that seem to form the basis. I presume you'd be looking at a couple hundred mil to do the flyover and connector projects.

[Mister Uptempo]

From Crain's Chicago Business-

Chicago-Indianapolis Amtrak line losing subsidy

July 25, 2014

(AP) — Indianapolis city officials have decided not to provide any additional money to subsidize an Amtrak passenger line between Indianapolis and Chicago, casting its future into question.

Last year, city leaders signed onto a one-year funding deal and agreed to provide $300,000 for the Hoosier State line, which runs four times a week between Indianapolis and Chicago, with stops along the way.

But Bob Zier, director of INDOT's multimodal program and planning, said Indianapolis officials recently informed him they aren't interested in providing any additional money after the multi-party deal ends Oct. 1.

"They have told me they are not interested in doing it next year, and take that as a final no," Zier told the Journal & Courier.

Under the subsidy deal, the Indiana Department of Transportation, Indianapolis and six other local governments agreed to pay a $2.7 million subsidy to Amtrak after the passenger train agency announced it was ending funding for passenger lines shorter than 750 miles.

The city's decision to provide no additional funding comes after INDOT recently announced that a private vendor, Corridor Capital, had been selected to run the line and improve service along the 196-mile route.

Indianapolis Department of Public Works spokeswoman Stephanie Wilson said the city might reconsider its decision if that vendor significantly improves service on the line, which makes stops in Crawfordsville, Lafayette, Rensselaer and Dyer.

Wilson said the passenger line's 5-hour trip between Chicago and Indianapolis is too long and isn't used frequently enough to make it worth subsidizing.

The rest of the story can be found here.

[ardecila]

Why would Corridor Capital bother to improve service on the line if funding is in question after October? They need at least another year to make needed improvements.

The Hoosier State is really just royally screwed in Chicagoland. North of Dyer, it uses six(!) different railroads to get to Union Station. Various reroutes have been discussed, mostly using CN's tracks in the Metra Electric corridor, but so far CN has refused to allow this. That may change if the state ever gets off its ass and funds the Grand Crossing connection or a direct connection on the St Charles Air Line (the refusal of officials to even consider building this incredibly useful connection boggles the mind).

[LouisVanDerWright]

^^^ How on earth are you so knowledgeable about this stuff. I hope you are just making really well researched posts and dont actually have all this info memorized, lol.

[ardecila]

Most of the problems with Amtrak in the Midwest could be solved with 2-3 projects around Chicago, so they're pretty important.

Instead IDOT is spending billions on a 50 mile tollway to an imaginary airport...

[LMich]

I had a rendering of Lansing's Capital Area Multi-modal Gateway - the silly name for the glorified Amtrak station redo on the site. Unfortunately, since the rendering has not been yet made public, I can't post it. That said, for what it costs, I was fairly impressed. The original 90's-looking brick concept was done away with in favor of an airy, modernist station building mostly composed of glass and steel. The inter-city bus canopy is also partially pictured, and matches the train station architecture. What wasn't pictured is the bike-storage building. Anyway, huge improvement over the literal warehouse the station stands in today. Demolition work has already started, I believe, but I haven't been by the site.

I can't yet find any photo updates for the Troy and Dearborn stations. Both are behind schedule, though for different reasons. The Dearborn station should be opened this fall. I don't know where the Troy station is in terms of opening up, and last I checked, the land dispute was still ongoing and keeping the mostly completed project from opening. In Michigan, for new station construction (as opposed to renovations or nothing at all) I guess this just leaves Ann Arbor and Detroit still in the planning stages for their stations.

As for track upgrades in the state, SEMCOG is still telling me that the West Detroit Connection Track project is starting within weeks. But, since neither SEMCOG nor MDOT keep any regular updates on this project, anymore, I don't know anything beyond what they've told me. It's really a shame MDOT will put up an outline for a project and then never really update anything, and this is particularly true for non-highway/freeway transit projects. The page on the Woodward Avenue Streetcar, for instance, is a year or so out-of-date.

[Jonboy1983]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Most of the problems with Amtrak in the Midwest could be solved with 2-3 projects around Chicago, so they're pretty important.

Instead IDOT is spending billions on a 50 mile tollway to an imaginary airport...

Do these IDiOT folks go on golf outings with the folks at PennDOT and other PA state officials???

Sure, and improving our rail infrastructure is a boondoggle... Riiiiiight...

[Busy Bee]

Originally Posted by Jonboy1983

Do these IDiOT folks go on golf outings with the folks at PennDOT and other PA state officials???

Sure, and improving our rail infrastructure is a boondoggle... Riiiiiight...

IDOT is actually light years ahead of other state DOTs, especially the ones were some employees might still think of it as the dept. of highways. That said I still think it will be another generation before the DOT leadership and political will is in place to see paradigm shifts in road>rail priorities.

[Mr Downtown]

I think it's premature to say that IDOT is "spending billions on a 50 mile tollway." The Illiana is supposed to be a tollway owned by a private consortium, and the bistate agreement only commits a minimum of $250 million in Illinois dollars. There's the worrisome prospect that the project will have financial guarantees from the state, but that's some distance down the road.

Still doesn't make the Illiana a good idea, but let's keep the facts straight.

[ardecila]

Billions may be stretching it but in the (likely) scenario the state has to bail out the Illiana, taxpayers could easily be on the hook for close to or more than $1 billion, and the state is considering legislation that would put payment of this debt ahead of all other transportation expenditures, including much-needed road and transit investments that actually serve real people and businesses and not hypothetical ones.

[Mister Uptempo]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Why would Corridor Capital bother to improve service on the line if funding is in question after October? They need at least another year to make needed improvements.

The Hoosier State is really just royally screwed in Chicagoland. North of Dyer, it uses six(!) different railroads to get to Union Station. Various reroutes have been discussed, mostly using CN's tracks in the Metra Electric corridor, but so far CN has refused to allow this. That may change if the state ever gets off its ass and funds the Grand Crossing connection or a direct connection on the St Charles Air Line (the refusal of officials to even consider building this incredibly useful connection boggles the mind).

To your point about re-routing the Hoosier State, it appears as if Corridor Capital has/had a plan to do just that.

The Indiana Passenger Rail Alliance publishes a monthly newsletter named All Aboard Indiana. In the August issue, which is available here, an article details a July 17 town meeting in Crawfordsville, IN attended by Fritz Plous, Director of Communications for Corridor Capital, in which he sketches out some of the firm's plans for the Hoosier State.

Of interest, is the following-

Corridor Capital plans to eliminate delays by changing routing between Dyer and Chicago. The change requires two new power switches – not manual ones – at a combined cost of $225,000. The switches are needed in Harvey, Illinois, which would allow the Hoosier State to use Canadian National tracks (the old Illinois Central tracks), thus avoiding long delays that passengers presently can endure, Plous stated.

That would bring the number of railroads' tracks used down to three - Amtrak trackage out of Union Station, CN trackage on the St. Charles Air Line to the Illinois Central to the Grand Trunk Western, and CSX trackage on the Monon route to Indy, correct?

A few other points about Corridor Capital's plans, as per the article-

-They intend(ed) to make the Hoosier State a seven-day-a-week service.
-They eventually planned to add a second train, after establishing service every day.
-Wi-Fi and ADA washrooms would be available on board right away, with business class service and food service to follow later.
-They plan(or planned) on using what was described as "two or three shining new, single-level cars". Which would mean they won't lease the Horizons that Amtrak currently uses for the route, and that either they have none of their reconditioned Sante Fe Hi-Level cars ready, or have no plans on using them at any point for the route. Maybe they feel they still have a chance with Michigan.

Whether to file this plan under "Goals For The Future" or "What Could Have Been" is anyone's guess at this point.

[Mister Uptempo]

This item was brought up at the Amtrak Unlimited forum, and I thought I should pass the info along.

A State of Illinois press release, dated July 30, 2014, found here, which primarily pertains to the opening of Nippon Sharyo's Shop 3 in Rochelle, IL, also has this bit of news-

Caltrans and IDOT will soon finalize an additional option order with Nippon Sharyo that will enable Illinois to add another 34 cars to its fleet, for a total of 122 cars coming to the Midwest. Caltrans will buy an additional 11 cars, bringing their allocation to 53. This procurement will result in 175 new railcars being produced at Nippon Sharyo.

The 122 Midwestern railcars will allow all existing Midwestern routes to be equipped with new railcars, including service to St. Louis, Milwaukee, Carbondale, Quincy, Chicago-Pontiac, Chicago-Grand Rapids, Chicago-Port Huron and St. Louis-Kansas City. In addition, the new Moline and Rockford corridors will also be outfitted with new equipment.

[ardecila]

Yeah, my understanding was that CN didn't want to play ball on a reroute of the Hoosier State. However, if CN is cooperative then the reroute could be a way to address Indiana's biggest concern.

Interesting to hear that this latest order will provide an entirely new fleet for all Midwest corridor service. The previous generation of "Comet" cars is also a possibility in disguise - what new services are looking to start up and need a couple of cheap used railcars? Northern Lights Express in MN, Coast to Coast in MI, increased frequency on existing lines, etc. I'd prefer they stayed in the Midwest but I'm sure there are worthy services in other regions as well. Just gotta keep the Comets off the scrap heap.

[Mister Uptempo]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Yeah, my understanding was that CN didn't want to play ball on a reroute of the Hoosier State. However, if CN is cooperative then the reroute could be a way to address Indiana's biggest concern.

Interesting to hear that this latest order will provide an entirely new fleet for all Midwest corridor service. The previous generation of "Comet" cars is also a possibility in disguise - what new services are looking to start up and need a couple of cheap used railcars? Northern Lights Express in MN, Coast to Coast in MI, increased frequency on existing lines, etc. I'd prefer they stayed in the Midwest but I'm sure there are worthy services in other regions as well. Just gotta keep the Comets off the scrap heap.

Actually, that brings up a question I have...

The reconditioned Amfleets currently running on the Lincoln Service, who owns those? Amtrak or Illinois?

I ask because if another route does get established (a shuttle from Peoria to Normal or the currently proposed route of Quad Cities-Galesburg-Peoria-Normal-Champaign-Danville), will Illinois have those Amfleets available to use, or do they go back to Amtrak when the bi-levels arrive?

[LMich]

The rendering for the Lansing area's station redo was made public just a few days ago as prep work began on the site.

Capital Area Multi Modal Gateway


Capital Area Multi-modal Gateway by NewCityOne, on Flickr

The complex includes the station building with ticketing and baggage processing for Amtrak and inter-city bus service as well as concessions. They'd originally planned for a canopy on the platform, but CN wouldn't let them do it for some reasons, so they just have an overhang attached to the station building. I take it that the area that the platform occupies is actually on their property. Part of the intercity bus canopy is pictured to the left. Not pictured is the bicycle storage building (off to the right), a large city bus stop, parking, etc...

I'm pleasantly surprised. I'd have liked to have seen a larger, more elaborate station building, but we're talking a $6.28 million project on acres of land. It seems like a lot of the money went into traffic circulation for the intercity buses on this awkwardly shaped and located site. In comparison to other new stations in the state, this is a million or so over what Grand Rapids spent on their's, about exactly what Troy spent on their center, but way less than the $28 million being spent in Dearborn.

[afiggatt]

Originally Posted by Mister Uptempo

Actually, that brings up a question I have...

The reconditioned Amfleets currently running on the Lincoln Service, who owns those? Amtrak or Illinois?

I ask because if another route does get established (a shuttle from Peoria to Normal or the currently proposed route of Quad Cities-Galesburg-Peoria-Normal-Champaign-Danville), will Illinois have those Amfleets available to use, or do they go back to Amtrak when the bi-levels arrive?

All the Amfleet and Horizon cars are owned by Amtrak. IL is leasing the set used on the Lincoln service. Amtrak can put the Amfleet Is currently used in the Midwest (and on one trainset in CA) to good use on the NEC and eastern corridors. The open question is what happens to the Horizons (other than the 3 cafe cars leased to CA to accompany the refurbed Comets), as the Horizons don't have automatic doors which makes them poorly suited for for NEC operations on a daily basis. There is a lot of speculation on what Amtrak may do with the Horizon cars.

If the additional 34 cars are ordered for the Midwest, that is enough to provide spare capacity for adding trains. The reports are that MI wants to add a second Pere Marquette and once all the currently funded track projects, an additional daily Wolverine might be in the plans. The contract with Nippon-Sharyo has options for 300 additional units, so there will options for 255 remaining if the order for 45 additional units is placed. If IL wants to add a new corridor service, the state could lease Horizons or maybe Amfleets to start the service while placing an order for additional bi-level cars.

[electricron]

Originally Posted by afiggatt

The contract with Nippon-Sharyo has options for 300 additional units, so there will options for 255 remaining if the order for 45 additional units is placed. If IL wants to add a new corridor service, the state could lease Horizons or maybe Amfleets to start the service while placing an order for additional bi-level cars.

Is Illinois even studying expanding new corridors into service beyond those planned today? Which line would you suggest that's not in the works today?
From what I'm aware of, Illinois plans to subsidize 5 regional lines in service, with terminating stations in Carbondale, St. Louis, Quincy, Moline (Iowa City), and Rockford (Dubuque). That's a rail corridor in every direction from Chicago to cities within Illinois. The only major city left out is Peoria, which isn't that far by bus from either the Quincy or St. Louis corridors.

[ardecila]

Rail shuttle service from Peoria to Normal
Illinois Valley service to LaSalle, Ottawa
Increased frequency on all lines (the Dubuque and Quad Cities lines will start with paltry frequencies).

Also, as I pointed out, the Horizons don't need to stay in Illinois. A Wisconsin line to Green Bay, a Minnesota line to Duluth, or a Michigan line from Grand Rapids to Detroit are all good uses for these railcars. I haven't even started on Ohio or Indiana, which are opposed to rail expansion at present but they won't stay that way.