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Not if it's seasoned with some hugely beneficial grade separations. That might get them to roll over. |
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Plus god knows what the affect will be with the sharks. |
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BNSF also doesn't really have an issue with blocked crossings like some other parts of the country, so keeping the status quo isn't very painful to residents/drivers. BNSF keeps freight trains moving, with colossal staging yards at Eola and Cicero and trains shuttling non-stop between them. The high train volume means a lot of overall downtime at grade crossings, but only for short periods. And the busiest roads are already grade-separated. |
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Something curious I came across: an article from The Guardian interviewed Andy Byford about high speed rail projects in the US. Some familiar projects like CAHSR and Brightline West were discussed. In addition, the article casually lists an Illinois High Speed Rail project from Chicago to St. Louis in 2 hours, and says it's in early stages of planning. The travel times for projects are taken from either the project websites or directly from Amtrak. There's nothing on the Illinois HSR commission page that says it will have 2 hour travel times, so this makes me wonder if Amtrak is somehow involved and provided the numbers to The Guardian.
I did find from the commission's May meeting that they are studying highway corridors, as well as the existing UP right-of-way, and will connect nearby towns/cities via branches. Interestingly, they list Metra's RID ROW and a potential route into Chicago. This would line up with Metra's plan to spend $1 billion to upgrade the RID for future Amtrak use. Hopefully we get more details soon. https://i.imgur.com/XIckzxsh.png Website: https://idot.illinois.gov/transporta...formation.html |
That's intriguing.
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2 hours is ambitious... that's a 150mph average speed end to end. Even if the train can do 220mph out in the cornfields there will inevitably be much slower sections entering/exiting Chicago and St Louis.
Certainly this kind of speed will not allow the reuse of the UP corridor - Illinois towns are much closer together than in California's Central Valley and each one will either require a bypass alignment around the town (curvy/speed penalties) or a costly viaduct thru the center of town. Really they're much better off using interstates or a true greenfield alignment. |
Also interesting they don't seem to be contemplating the Chicago-Champaign-Decatur-Springfield-St. Louis route long favored by the MHSRA (now HSRA). That HSR advocacy group have vision planned that route because they rightfully believe IMO that U of I would be a major ridership generator with roughly 60k students.
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^ Rick Harnish, the executive director of HSRA, was appointed by the governor to be on the Illinois HSR Commission, so the governor and other members of the commission must know about the HSRA alignment. If it's not the route the commission is choosing, then it's likely they think it'll be cheaper or provide high-ridership to instead do a branch to Urbana-Champaign from a trunk line.
Fun fact, apparently Metra's CEO Jim Derwinski is the chair of the HSR Commission, so that probably is why the RID ROW is listed at the potential route into Chicago |
They have not ruled out the I-57 routing thru Champaign, as far as I can tell. They just showed the UP corridor as an example.
In addition to serving Champaign, another huge advantage of using the I-57 route is that you can use Metra Electric as the Chicago approach. It's already electrified (albeit DC), 100% grade separated and straight as an arrow... you could build a shoulder station at Calumet near the Tri-State, or Kensington with a Red Line and Metra Electric connection. It would save billions. The only downside is that it does not connect to Union Station, so they'd have to spend on that connection or use another downtown terminal. |
Another factor in favor of IC via Kankakee is that, surprisingly, it gives a superior route to Indianapolis via the Big Four alignment. I'm told that's in much better shape than the ex-Monon through Rensselaer. Whether Indiana would be on board to help fund a route that skips the Region altogether is another question.
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HOLY SHIT! At the Illinois Senate Transportation hearing, Metra said they'll experiment with hourly O'Hare-Union Station service for 10 days during the DNC. They eventually want 15-minute frequency. Metra also said, if they get more funding, they may consider a circumferential route like the STAR Line
I can't believe I'm saying this, but God bless Metra |
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I really like Metra - I take it regularly out to my cousins in the burbs and it's a godsend of a service. Antecedent - I've noticed more and more people taking it too this Summer. |
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