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Quote:

Originally Posted by IrishIllini (Post 9936976)

Great news, lets just take the whole thing down instead :D...or at least take out a lane each way.

Hear hear!

Quote:

Originally Posted by ardecila (Post 9926592)

It’s a bigger project than you think, they are digging up everything in the park between Michigan and the rail trench, going two levels down, and rebuilding from scratch. The existing ramped tunnels don’t meet ADA slope requirements and they leak like a sieve, so hopefully the total rebuild will solve both problems.

They are also building a 4th mainline track and a 3rd platform east of the existing two, which should provide more capacity into Millennium Station for South Shore’s new line to Dyer.

I did check some info regarding the Silver Line Phase 2 in DC, and the total cost for a new station is about 700 million USD. Taking into consideration your comment, I guess it makes sense for this to cost 1/7 of that. Thanks for the feedback, hope the final result is as expected.

My proposed reshuffling of the Amtrak network in Chicago + my future rail services

Millennium Station – Electric East Division : High Speed Rail & Regional Rail

• 220mph High Speed Line : Chicago – Champaign – Springfield – St. Louis
• 220mph High Speed Line : Chicago – Fort Wayne – Toledo – Detroit
• 220mph High Speed Line : Chicago – Indianapolis – Louisville – Nashville
• 220mph High Speed Line : Chicago – Fort Wayne – Toledo - Cleveland
• Metra Electric Main Line : Chicago – University Park – Kankakee
• Metra Electric Blue Island Branch
• Metra Electric South Chicago Branch
• South Shore Line : Chicago – Gary – Michigan City – South Bend – Elkhart – Goshen
• West Lake Corridor : Chicago – Hammond – Dyer – St. John
• Calumet Corridor : Chicago – East Chicago – Hobart – Valparaiso

Lasalle Street Station – Eastern Diesel / Hybrid shared Corridor & Long Distance Services

• Metra Rock Island District
• Amtrak 3 Rivers: Chicago – Fort Wayne – Youngstown – Pittsburgh – New York – 1x daily
• Amtrak Nickle plate limited : Chicago - Fort Wayne - Cleveland - Erie - Buffalo - 3x daily (local stops along HSR line)
• Amtrak Southern Tier Ltd: Chicago – South Bend - Toledo - Cleveland - Erie – Binghamton – Scranton – Hoboken -1x daily
• Amtrak International : Chicago – Ann Arbor – Detroit – London – Toronto – 2x daily
• Amtrak City of New Orleans : Chicago – Memphis – Jackson – New Orleans – 1x daily
• Amtrak Illini and Saluki : Chicago – Kankakee – Champaign - Carbondale – 4x daily
• Amtrak Floridan : Chicago – Indianapolis – Nashville – Orlando – Miami – 1x daily
• Amtrak Cardinal : Chicago – Indianapolis – Cincinnati – Charlottesville – DC – NY – 1x daily
• Amtrak Lake Shore Limited : Chicago – Cleveland – Buffalo – Albany – New York – 1x daily
• Amtrak Capitol Limited : Chicago – Cleveland – Pittsburgh – DC – 1x daily
• Amtrak Wolverine : Chicago – Kalamazoo – Battle Creek – Detroit – Pontaic – 6x daily
• Amtrak Blue Water : Chicago – Battle Creek – Flint – Port Huron – 4x daily
• Amtrak Pere Marquette : Chicago – St. Joesph – Holland – Grand Rapids – 3x daily
• Amtrak Hoosier State : Chicago-Lafayette-Indianapolis-Cincinnati – 4x daily
• Amtrak Mountaineer : Chicago - Cincinnati - Roanoke - Petersburg - Norfolk - 1x daily

Ogilvie Transportation Center - High Speed Rail – Regional & Corridor Intercity Rail Services

• 220mph High Speed Line : Chicago – Milwaukee – Madison – La Crosse – Rochester – St. Paul
• Metra Union Pacific North Line : Chicago - Ravenswood - Evanston - Waukegan - Kenosha - Racine - Milwaukee
• Metra Union Pacific West Line : Chicago - River Forest - Geneva - Elburn
• Metra Union Pacific Northwest Line : Chicago - Park Ridge - Barrington - Gary - Crystal Lake - Harvard
• Metra Union Pacific Northwest Line : Chicago - Park Ridge - Gary - McHenry - Johnsburg - Genoa City - Lake Geneva

Chicago Union Station – Regional & Corridor Intercity Rail Services

• Metra BNSF Line : Chicago – La Grange – Naperville – Aurora
• Metra Milwaukee District West Line : Chicago – Franklin Park – Roselle – Elgin
• Metra Milwaukee District North Line : Chicago – Glenview – Deer Field – Fox Lake
• Metra North Central Line : Chicago – O’ Hare – Prairie Crossing – Antioch
• Metra Heritage Corridor : Chicago – Summit – Joilet
• Metra Southwest Service : Chicago – Oak Lawn – Manhattan
• Metra CrossRail : O’Hare Airport – Union Station – Hyde Park
• Amtrak Hiawatha : Chicago – Milwaukee – 10x daily (local stops along HSR line) , + Appleton - Green Bay - 4x daily
• Amtrak Southern Superior : Chicago - Milwaukee - Green Bay - Escanaba - Marquette - 1x daily
• Amtrak Southern Superior : Chicago - Milwaukee - Green Bay - Escanaba - Sault Ste Marie - 1x daily
• Amtrak North Star - Chicago – Milwaukee-Appleton-Superior-Duluth -1x overnight with morning arrival
• Amtrak Lake Country Limited : Madison – Janesville – Rockford – Chicago – 3x daily
• Amtrak Quad Cities : Omaha – Des Moines -Iowa City – Davenport – Chicago – 4x daily
• Amtrak Black Hawk : Waterloo – Dubuque – Rockford – Chicago – 3x daily
• Amtrak Peoria Rocket : Springfield – Peoria – Ottawa – Joilet – Chicago – 3x daily
• Amtrak Illinois Zephyr and Carl Sandburg : Chicago – Quincy – Hannibal – 4x daily
• Amtrak Lincoln : Chicago - Joliet - Bloomington - Springfield -> shared HSR to St. Louis - 6x daily

Chicago Union Station – Long Distance Services

• Amtrak Empire Builder : Chicago – Milwaukee – St Paul – Spokane – Portland – 1x daily
• Amtrak North Coast Hiawatha : Chicago – St Paul – Missoula – Spokane – Seattle – 1x daily
• Amtrak California Zephyr : Chicago – Omaha – Denver – SLC – SAC – Emeryville – 1x daily
• Amtrak Southwest Chief : Chicago – Kansas City - Albuquerque – Los Angeles – 1x daily
• Amtrak Lone Star : Chicago – Kansas City – Newtown - Wichita - Oklahoma City – Fort Worth – 1x daily
• Amtrak Inter-American : Chicago – St Louis – Dallas – San Antonio – Laredo – 1x daily
• Amtrak Texas Eagle: Chicago – St Louis – Dallas – Austin – San Antonio – 1x daily

Looks like the 7000 series may already be on the way out. Not one of Rahm's best decisions. But I guess contracting with the Chinese was all in-fashion back then.

Quote:

Funding provided to CTA through this FTA grant program will support the commutes and travel of the millions who use the CTA and allow the agency to begin planning and designing for the future procurement of its next generation of railcars – the 9000-Series. This next generation of railcars would replace CTA’s oldest railcars that were manufactured more than 40 years ago.

https://www.transitchicago.com/duckw...r-replacement/

I'm not sure this means the CRRC 7000 series contract is being cancelled - unless I'm missing something. Regardless, I hope the 9000 series will be the moment the Cta breaks out of this amber it's been locked in and orders a really forward looking car - and not just a nearly identical recycled body style with a half-assed update to the bonnet like the 7000 series. The original 7000 renderings looked promising, if a little conservative, but the production design just kind of fell flat and even managed to seem even clumsier IMO. I know US transit agencies are super conservative when it comes to rolling stock - both in materials spec'd like the ubiquitous stainless steel as well as body styling that seems to avoid forward looking industrial design at all costs. This is changing, but it's changing very slowly. MARTA is getting some nice looking new cars from Stadler, even though I am a huge fan of the classic 1970s futurism look of the original Belgian rolling stock. But even NYC which made an attempt at a sleek crowd pleaser of a car that wasn't as embarrassing when compared to foreign counterparts, still ultimately looks like the same train carriage of the last 30, 40, 50 years with a value engineered bonnet grafted on the front. And don't even get me going on the foot dragging over open gangways. Yes, they've finally got some prototypes but it's still totally unknown if they are going to modify and contracts for the R-211 to pull the trigger on open gangways like the rest of the planet already did like 30 years ago.

I believe the base order for the 7000s is 400 cars, with the option to purchase 446 additional cars. It's possible those additional cars won't be ordered and instead replaced with the 9000s.

^^Yeah, that's probably it. Hopefully, they actually hit it out of the park with the 9000 series.

Completely agree that the dated American subway car look needs to go. I know the appearance doesn't actually effect service but if you're going to be investing in modernization, send that visual message to your users. I was actually in disbelief when I first saw the Silverliner Vs running in Denver. A city with such a progressive image, investing heavily in electrified heavy rail transit, and they buy trains that look like they're in an early '80s movie in New York (yes I know they just piggybacked on SEPTA, which is equally guilty). I'm excited for MARTA's cars as well but I wish they had exterior doors rather than the pocket doors that greatly reduce window area. Cleveland going with Siemens S200s for the red line was a great decision.

Quote:

Originally Posted by aprice1828 (Post 9939645)

I think I remember literally being sick to my stomach over that.

Though I can't remember if those were ordered pre or post-FRA waiver.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Randomguy34 (Post 9936096)

Crain's is reporting that the Kennedy construction and increased train frequencies has resulted in ridership increase for many Metra lines. For weekday numbers, UP-N is now 71% of pre-pandemic, UP-NW is 65%, MD-N is 60%, and NCS is 53%. Amazing what happens when car use is discouraged and rail frequency is increased

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/tran...y-construction

I'm just realizing that these routes might have some of the highest ridership recovering of any transit line in the country!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roy_Batty (Post 9938387)

Is that the terminal station at Dulles?

Who in the hell is getting paid? No wonder we can't help more nice things in this country. Isn't that a higher cost than the Obama Libabry is going to be?

Yeah, $700M for the core/shell of Obama library. but that does not include the cost of building out the interior exhibits and collections ($90M) or all the infrastructure going on around it. All told, it's likely they will spend more than $1B in Jackson Park.

The bid tab for the Van Buren project shows they only got one bid, from FH Paschen. Other Metra Electric station projects had 4-5 bids. So basically everyone took a pass on this project because it was too risky, and the one GC who did submit a bid just decided to price in all the risk.

Rundown of projects Metra has planned for the Rock Island District, unfortunately electrification isn't one of them. The Root St connection seems interesting though:

Quote:

16th Street tower relocation and diamond crossings expansion: Already in progress, this South Loop project would replace an aging control tower and expand the freight crossings from six to eight. The new crossings will allow Metra trains to triple their speeds from 10 to 30 mph.
Rock Island Amtrak project: Adding a third track from the Gresham stop to 17th Street would boost train capacity along the line. Along with Amtrak, Metra is also planning to upgrade five rail crossovers. The project is not yet in the design phase.
Root Street Wye connection: A rail bridge over the Dan Ryan Expressway at 40th Street, a bridge as old as the expressway itself, could link north and south Metra areas, allowing service equipment to bypass downtown rail traffic. Metra doesn’t own the bridge, which is in disrepair. “Just a concept, but a big concept,” says Kevin McCann, chief operating officer.
51st Street Yard expansion: Adding more tracks to this rail yard near the Dan Ryan would improve efficiency of the center that services and cleans all Metra trains serving the Rock Island and Southwest Service lines.
75th Street corridor program: Possibly the largest endeavor, which is actually 75 individual projects, seeks to untangle the notoriously congested confluence of trains from Metra, Amtrak and four other freight companies. The P2 project would build a Metra flyover at 73rd Street to connect Southwest Service and Rock Island lines, allowing Metra to direct Southwest Service trains to the La Salle Street Station, freeing up space for Amtrak trains at Union Station. “It really untangles the freight network, says Metra CEO Jim Derwinski. About half of the 75 projects have been completed.
Auburn Station: Metra broke ground on this new station last June, but the project has been held up by permitting issues with the city, Derwinski said. “We’re in the city of Chicago. Sometimes things don’t go as fast as you like,” Derwinski said. Hoping to start by the summer, the project would take two years to complete.
Vermont Street Station in Blue Island: A rehab in progress, this station makeover improves accessibility and would allow Amtrak to use it as an intercity station.

https://i.imgur.com/ZrDctCMh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/bt6eReHh.jpg
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2023/5/...ter-train-line

Quote:

Originally Posted by ardecila (Post 9895224)

Glad to hear this is still alive, though. Hopefully they stop handicapping themselves and do the whole thing properly - a 2 track ramp into Union Station instead of single track, properly refurbishing the SCAL bridge, a 2-track quadrant connection at 16th St, triple-tracking the Rock Island (or 4-track passing segments), etc.

HSR Alliance updated their map for the proposed track layout. It looks like the ramp will FINALLY be 2 tracks, and they'll properly refurbish the SCAL bridge. There's now a potential "flyover" the RID, additional interchanges to the MED, and a smaller Amtrak yard. All these extra features are probably why Amtrak increased their funding request for the project.

New Layout:
https://i.imgur.com/rDRJlVtl.jpg

Old Layout:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FkcjeFhX...png&name=small
https://www.hsrail.org/chicago-hub-improvement-program/

I could be wrong (I hope I am) but I think the private HSRA is conflating the actual Amtrak grant request with their wishlist for CrossRail Chicago.

For example the new track connections shown in the diagram between the SCAL and Metra Electric around McCormick Place have no value for Amtrak under current service patterns.

CTA to Kick Off Final Major Phase of Lawrence to Bryn Mawr Modernization Project

Quote:

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) will begin construction on four new, fully accessible stations at Lawrence, Argyle, Berwyn and Bryn Mawr to replace century-old stations, and start rebuilding southbound Red and Purple tracks.

https://www.railwayage.com/passenger...RAchannel=news

https://www.railwayage.com/wp-conten...1.33.14-AM.png

^^Another article, this one from Urbanize, about the same work (with more pics too):

https://chicago.urbanize.city/post/c...rt-final-phase

Due to the Kennedy closure, ridership recovery on all three Union Pacific lines have passed all other Metra lines. UP-N now has 66% of it's pre-pandemic weekday ridership, probably one of the best recoveries in the country. MED still dominates on the weekends, with over 110% of pre-pandemic ridership

Report: https://metra.com/sites/default/file...nds%20Memo.pdf

Obviously boosted by TSwift, but still good news to see.....

https://chi.streetsblog.org/2023/06/...ince-covid-hit

This is going to be a shit show

Quote:

Even busy CTA bus lines like Clark and Broadway that run blocks away from the NASCAR site are being shut down in the Loop, for NINE days.

The CTA website buries the information in that press release, but it appears these bus lines will not "relocate", but simply terminate at one of three L stations: State/Lake, LaSalle, or Roosevelt. Can you look at the completely inadequate and irresponsible way the CTA is getting (concealing?) information to the public and see anything but gross incompetence?

https://twitter.com/LynnBecker/statu...20774322569216

Affected routes: https://www.transitchicago.com/ditch...d-festivities/

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