^Exactly. This station will probably open not meeting Metra's new criteria for keeping stations.

North Michigan is where bus lanes are needed most IMO. You can walk faster than the buses between the river and Chicago Ave.

I still fantasize about a bus tunnel, similar to Seattle’s (though they just made theirs exclusive to light rail) under Michigan Ave from Oak Street to the river.

I just wanted to mention how awesome the Green Line is now with the new infill stations.
I haven’t been to McCormick in a few years, and last time was the auto show with my dad, so we drove.
For the trade show I went to this month, I realized I now could take the Green straight from Ogilvie to Cermak. Of course, I went sightseeing and got on at Morgan, but even on a cold rainy November day I would walk to Clinton and the easy 6 blocks to McCormick.

Only paid $20 for both Metra and CTA, which is cheaper than parking, tolls and gas. Thanks CTA for a fun ride.
P.S., it makes me much more excited to go to McCormick shows because I don’t have to drive and can spend those two hours productively.

The worst is when you are waiting for the bus. Sometimes, you can see the bus just a few blocks away, and you still have to wait like 5 minutes for the bus to get to you, sometimes in the extreme Chicago cold.

79th station is is about the same distance from the Red Line as Peterson/Ridge. 79th is also the busiest bus route in the city with more than six times the ridership of the 84 on Peterson. Admittedly the immediate area around the station is not as dense but a half mile or so west it is pretty dense (which is why 79th has such high ridership.) If they coordinated fares between Metra and CTA to eliminate or reduce the transfer penalty, it would probably be a very busy station.

And, with a little jog East, they could hook it up to the little-known Bus lane (used only for conventions, I think) that whisks you right down to McCormick Place.

Both of those Metra stations should provide a nice time savings getting into the Loop and relieve some rush hour Red Line congestion. For everyone who lives up at Peterson, jobs in the West Loop will be so much closer, probably won't even need to transfer to the CTA, just walk 10 minutes west.

Good use of existing infrastructure.

I've wanted this for ages, too. There's already a Lower Michigan to Grand, so it only needs to be extended about half a mile. In conjunction with that, a Lower Chicago Ave between, say, Orleans and Fairbanks would also dramatically reduce 66/Chicago bus travel times between the Blue Line, Michigan Ave, and Navy Pier, and really enable turning 66/Chicago into BRT service. With the existing growth near Chicago/Milwaukee, and the planned growth at Chicago/River, it would really make commuting to the Mag Mile much easier/faster, and dramatically help surface congestion and/or enable some creative streetscapes east of Franklin.

Creating a Lower Michigan to Oak Street would be very disruptive to the businesses there, but the long-term benefit would be huge, especially since it really could improve travel times between the West Loop train stations and the Mag Mile and enable some creative bus routings with Lower Wacker and/or a new Carol Street transit way.

I'd guess doing that to Michigan would cost double the reconstruction of Wacker, at worst, and take about the same timeframe.

Hiawatha expansion
 

Awesome to see Wisconsin pushing aggressively to expand this corridor service to 10 RT per day/.

Evers wants to expand Amtrak’s Milwaukee to Chicago Hiawatha service
WisDOT reports record calendar year ridership for service

Great news

What a difference an election makes.

Now if they could get some new dedicated trainsets (see Siemens Brightline) with a sweet orange paint scheme homage to the Milw Road...

Illinois is part of the California led coalition for new corridor rail eqpt. Also Wi, MO, MI. (IN rejected participation in the coalition and is not eligible for the equipment)

28 new Siemens Charger locomotives have been delivered. 23 are in service.

88 single level rail cars are in advanced design/testing. Due to begin delivery end of 2020.

Aashto hsr

Hopefully they eventually start running a couple a day to Madison and Green Bay.

If they wanted to expand service, Wisconsin could probably buy a few of the 100 Charger locos that Amtrak still has an option to purchase, over and above the 75 they've already ordered. Those 75 won't be fully delivered until 2024.

Not sure whether Caltrans/IDOT still has an open option on any Viaggio coaches or not.

This route currently doesn't run with motive power on both ends. I'd like to see some of those new cab cars like Caltrans ordered (but IDOT declined) on the Hiawatha. Easy way to add a little capacity. Plus there is no need for Business Class or a full cafe car, as this is really just a glorified commuter route.

ETA - perhaps as the Midwest coalition starts to get their new Viaggios, they can temporarily repurpose the Amfleet cars that Illinois paid to have rehabbed for the Lincoln Service for use on the Hiawatha, and permanently retire those god-awful Horizons.

Here's a shot of a Milwaukee Road Hiawatha with mid-1950's livery-
https://i.imgur.com/MAj9aQs.jpg
img src - wikimedia

Considering that Walker handed back $810 million to the feds that was earmarked for a Milwaukee-Madison route (which would have led to more and better service to Minneapolis-St. Paul), it'll be hell getting them to hand anything back to Evers (and pretty much impossible with the current administration in DC). I believe there are still unused Talgo trainsets sitting at Beech Grove from the last fiasco.

Speaking of Beech Grove, now that Amtrak's Hoosier State is in serious jeopardy of disappearing after June 30, all of a sudden some in Indiana are realizing that they may lose as many as 500 jobs, if all the work at the Beech Grove shops is moved elsewhere, as a result of the route being discontinued.

Amtrak uses the Hoosier State as a shuttle to send rolling stock requiring service to Beech Grove.

Indiana only spends $2.5 million in operating subsidies to keep the train running 4 days a week (with an additional $500,000 coming from Lafayette, Crawfordsville, and Rensselaer). Considering the terrible deal the state made with Carrier to save jobs that actually won't be staying, $2.5 million seems like a hell of a bargain.

Now that we have a new governor I wonder if IDOT is going to make a decision on the Glenview holding track soonish and cause the village to incinerate a small fortune futilely opposing it.

I wonder if the Glenview skirmish would be less an issue if Metra was electrified on that corridor and not belching squealling diesel locomotives?

Never underestimate the intensity of ideological derangement present in the Indiana republican statehouse.