^ No, your post was basically ok; my point was that it ought not be then used to suggest Chicago deprioritize the airport link.


As for sick passengers: Well, let's just look at how bizarrely often this occurs. Here are some CTA rail-related tweets from just the last 48 hours (basically all day Fri and all day Sat) in reverse chronological order: (This is only about half the tweets regarding stoppages during this time, since many tweets are updates that repeat or announce the stoppage is ending.)

5h ago: Howard-bound Red Line trains are operating with residual delays after an earlier sick customer at 87th. Service is resuming.

6h ago: Howard-bound Red Line trains are standing at 87th due to a sick customer; crews working to restore service.

14h ago: Some O'Hare-bound Blue Line trains are operating with residual delays after an earlier sick customer at O'Hare. Service is resuming.

15h ago: O'Hare-bound Blue Line trains are standing near Rosemont due to a sick customer; crews working to restore service.

Sep 8: Kimball-bound Brown Line trains are standing at Paulina due to a sick customer; crews working to restore service.

Sep 8: Some Green and Pink Line trains are operating with residual delays after an earlier signal problem near Ashland/Lake.Service is resuming.

Sep 8: Normal service on the Green Line is resuming after earlier police activity at Ashland/Lake, w/residual delays.

Sep 8: Howard-bound Red Line trains are standing at Grand due to a sick customer; Consider alternatives and local bus routes.

Sep 8: O'Hare-bound Blue Line trains are standing at Pulaski due to a mechanical problem on a train; crews working to restore service.

Sep 8: Loop-bound Pink Line trains are standing at Polk due to a mechanical problem on a train; crews working to restore service.

Sep 8: Some Howard-bound Red Line trains are operating with residual delays after an earlier sick customer at Clark/Division. Service is resuming.

Sep 8: Linden-bound Purple trains are standing at Granville due to mechanical problem on a train; crews working to restore service.

Sep 8: Howard-bound Red Line trains are standing at 63rd due to police activity on the train; crews working to restore service.


Thank you, Twitter account. If you look at the full list of tweets, some of these incidents span multiple hours. Did I mention it's not January and below zero. Nor is it 90 degrees, or raining. Nor is Lollapalooza happening, nor was there a salmonella outbreak. I think it's entirely conceivable "sick passenger" might be a CTA/police euphemism for ejecting a nuisance passenger (passively homeless, or actively harassing people, etc.), or something. Regardless, the more unplanned stoppages occur, the more you need a separate train for the airport.

Most of those could be solved with a policy change: in the event of a sick passenger, offload them and proceed. I really don't understand why that's not already policy.

I was sick on the train once. I didn't linger. Once it stopped you couldn't get me off that train fast enough. The Ashland orange line platform didn't fair so well. I'll never forget the look of horror on that little old Mexican woman's face.

^ On the NYC subway back in 2008 New Years Eve we were sitting across from a drunk girl (inside the train) who just puked all over the floor right in front of us.

Ahhh, that was pleasant...

Great memories are often smelly ones ;)

:haha: Ha ha ha ha ha, nasty boy or girl... Bon, let's say you're thinking of Swiss fondue, huh.

Flying back from Barcelona a few years ago there was an exceptional gentleman, who I believe had no connection to the woman in this story, who was crouching in front of an airsick woman, holding the airsick bag while she made full use of it. I was both grossed out and quite impressed at both his strong stomach and kind willingness to help her in such a direct, pragmatic way. I like to think that I'm a good person who will go an extra mile to help a fellow human in need, but I'm not sure I'd have been willing to go that far to aid a fellow passenger.

Hasn't Toronto's experience with the Union-Pearson express train been underwhelming?

Also regarding HSR, I just can't imagine anything positive coming from Wisconsin unless there is a big change in political leadership up there, so its hard to see CHI-MIL service coming soon. Maybe the Walker administration is thawing its stance because there's been the talk about track improvements allowing for an increase in Hiawatha frequency. Other realistic baby steps right now should be getting the midwest regional rail fleet fiasco at Nippon Sharyo fixed, rumor is that Sumitomo is subcontracting out to Siemens now and they might try to rush something in the next year?

Here's a thought, what if the blue line got passing tracks wherever they'd fit, like on the outer segment of the line which isn't subway? Then limited stop airport trains would be able to serve the line? This might be quite a bit less expensive than building a "high speed" rail line to the airport, which would never actually be "high speed" and would require a new alignment anyways. Benefits of this would include a new infill station between Harlem-Ohare and Jefferson Park, which could be built along with a wider track in an altered I-90 alignment.

That was the scheme being studied in the last few Daley years, and they'd modeled that a few well-located passing sidings could let the Blue Line run express trains. But one siding would have to be in the Milwaukee subway portion, and others would require expressway widening or complex vertical separations. Not cheap. And any of these three-track schemes would require a Japanese or Swiss culture of precision timekeeping to be implanted into the CTA.

I think going forward into the future, more automated train control would work.

We can build a self driving car that can freely roam on public streets in any direction and avoid unpredictable human pedestrians and human driven cars but we can't design a self driving vehicle that runs on freaking rails! on a predictable timetable without needing additional investment in lineside signalling systems?

In Chicago, I think we'll get to Mars first...

You used to be able to get there on the MD-W.

Does anyone know when the Green Line Damen station design is expected to be complete and when construction starts?

Design and engineering work began this summer and construction will being 3rd quarter of 2018. Won't be finished until 2020.

https://www.chicago-l.org/stations/damen-lake.html

First, CTA hasn't had conductors since 1997.

Second, what skin is it off your nose for the operator to show a little courtesy so long as the train keeps its schedule?

^Operator/driver/motorman...

Like all trains, the L runs on a schedule. It has little bits of air in it in case of problems, which is why trains will sometimes stand for 3-5 minutes at Grand SB or Roosevelt NB, so they're not arriving at stations early. If the operator is already "up" by a minute or two, it causes no problems to wait for a patron having trouble—except it risks riling up people who think the entire world revolves around them.

Personally, I'd have preferred putting a stop at Madison/Paulina on the Pink line over this but this works too.

^^^ They still can. For that area around the United Center to boom (and to get rid of those parking lots) it could use both stations.


Also, I heard someone mention a proposed 15th street station on the Red Line. I didn't find any info on that. Is that a real proposal?

Related Midwest wants a 15th street station, along with a new Metra station, for their proposal on the 62-acres they own. They admitted in a Tribune article back in May that they haven't contacted the CTA or Metra about it, but hopefully they have done so at this point.