No. The refurbished 3200s will retain the original configuration.
The new 7000s will eventually have a similar seating arrangement, but with longitudinal bench seating replacing the weird "single" seating. That is a better balance of standing room and number of seats. |
Riders advocate for No. 11-Lincoln bus service at CTA budget hearing
http://www.redeyechicago.com/news/lo...,2990472.story
Tracy Swartz, 8:48 p.m. CST, November 17, 2014 Since the CTA cut a portion of the No. 11-Lincoln Avenue bus two years ago, Krista Kempe has found herself struggling to figure out how to go grocery shopping without a car...... |
Quote:
|
CTA bus fire shuts down lanes on Lake Shore Drive
http://www.redeyechicago.com/news/ch...,1712040.story
Chicago Tribune staff 7:06 a.m. CST, November 18, 2014 All southbound lanes of Lake Shore Drive are shut down between North Avenue and Division Street after a fire engulfed a CTA bus..... |
CTA Ride the Rails: Brown Line
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wsmXP5Cp2o
The CTA has more than 224 miles of railroad tracks across Chicago and surrounding suburbs, serving the agency's eight rail lines. In an average weekday, there are about 2,200 train trips making stops at the system's 145 rail stations....... |
|
Cool. I take it the opening date is relatively assured?
|
That station seem to have taken no time! I wonder how long the Wilson Station will take. What other stations are under active construction?
|
The Wilson stop is supposed to take a bit over tow years to construct. It will not open until 2017. Can't wait!!
|
From Chicago Business.com
Lipinski on track with new rail policy post in Congress "Rep. Dan Lipinski, D-Chicago, is poised to become the highest-ranking Democrat on a House subcommittee on railroads at a time when issues involving Metra and Amtrak will be barreling down the track next year.Might help get CREATE's 75th Street Corridor project some initial funding. |
Does anyone know if Amtrak still has the air rights to the Union Station train shed between Jackson and Van Buren ?
I'm wondering if that area could be reassigned to building an expanded concourse to free up room for passenger facilities. |
No, I believe the air rights were sold to Tishman in 1980 when they built Gateway Center IV.
It wouldn't really help Amtrak anyway; that site sits atop the BNSF tracks, so it would only be helpful for Metra trains. There has been talk of adding south exits to the BNSF platforms, possibly retrofitted into the Post Office, but most commuters are heading to destinations north of Jackson so it would be a detour for many Metra riders. It would streamline transfers to the Blue Line, though, or the new Megabus station at Clinton/Congress. |
^Megabus, last I heard, was not expected to use the new bus facility at Union Station. That will just be CTA buses, taxis, and possibly office building shuttles.
|
IIRC the plan is to relocate Megabus to the Clinton Blue Line station, not the new Union Station bus plaza.
As far as I know Megabus would still function as a curbside operation, but at the Clinton/Congress location it might be possible to reclaim some of the parking space under the viaduct for a modest outdoor waiting facility. |
Quote:
|
|
Quote:
thanks for the link. |
Can we spend another $100 million studying Union Station's master plan, please?
Thanks! |
^ The fact that everybody has a different idea for Union Station is exactly the reason the problem should be studied.
This isn't like Washington DC where we have all the right ingredients already - two through tracks, a subway station on the premises, huge soaring concourse, etc. Since we don't have unlimited money, "fixing" Chicago's Union Station will take creativity, and working around numerous constraints. If you're looking for shovels in the ground, the new Transit Center will start in the spring - it's sleek, attractive, and it will be directly connected to the train platforms using a pedway. It will greatly help commuters and travelers sort through the chaotic web of buses so they can make a connection. |
Local Funds Matching.....
Does anyone know what the current Local Matching Funds percentage is for Federal Transit Grants?
|
Quote:
|
I think until they figure out what to do with Union Station, they should have a big banner at the entrance that says "YES WE KNOW IT'S BAD", and they can't take it down until they fix it. That way, everyday citizens will share my frustration in knowing that the people in charge are fully aware the problem exists but have thus far been entirely unable to address it. I'm tired of them getting to enjoy the empty hope that someone in charge just hasn't realized it yet, and will fix it as soon as they do.
|
Quote:
|
The Red Line Extension isn't funded.
|
Quote:
|
I cannot wrap my head around why this is a priority for the CTA, let alone CDOT or IDOT.
For CDOT; far better ROI with any of the BRT projects, Central Circulator or Clinton St/CUS Transit. If they must extend a line why not Green Line west to Midway along 63rd? |
Quote:
|
Quote:
Definitely politics. |
Quote:
or if people still hold their noses way off there in Sunny Cali? |
McCormick Place Green Line opening delayed to early 2015
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...203-story.html
Construction starts on the new DePaul Arena and adjacent Hyatt Hotel, in April or May; bringing thousands of Construction Workers into the already severely congested McCormick Place/MuseumCampus/Prairie District area on a daily basis. This is 4 or 5 months from RIGHT NOW; are there any solutions out there in the mix?? http://cdn.cstatic.net/images/gridfs...k-marriott.jpg |
Well, we're probably talking about fewer than 20 workers for the foundation phase. Most arrive in their own pickup trucks.
And my information is still that the Green Line station opens Feb. 7. It might not be "finished" until "late spring." |
Quote:
|
Federal funding bill ponies up $120 million for CTA Red Line
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/artic...r-cta-red-line
Despite an increasingly conservative Congress, the Chicago Transit Authority stands to benefit from a huge, session-ending appropriations deal agreed to by leaders of both parties last night...... |
Metra eyes 75th Street Corridor flyover
http://abc7chicago.com/traffic/metra...yover-/432560/
One of the biggest railroad bottlenecks in the country is located on the city's Southwest Side. Metra needs $1 billion to fix it. The commuter rail agency is asking for $1 billion to solve the problems in what is called the 75th Street Corridor along Metra's Southwest Service line...... |
Interesting that there is $120M from FY2014 and $120M from FY2015 available for Core Capacity. You'd think other big Eastern cities would be all over this money, but CTA is apparently the only agency to even qualify so far.
|
Me thinks it is because Durbin made it so we would be the only ones to qualify for it. Corruption sucks, but it is ok when you have the guys in charge and they use it for good things.
|
Yeah, but CTA has only been awarded about 1/4 of the 2014 money. The rest of it is just sitting there with nobody to claim it.
|
How to unclog Chicago's Museum Campus
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/artic...-museum-campus
A mayoral panel has recommended some intermediate steps to make it easier to get to the city's Museum Campus, which draws millions of people a year but has little public transit...... |
Systems for Integrated Regional Transit Mobile App and Services
http://globenewswire.com/news-releas...-Services.html
Dec. 15, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via PRWEB Cubic Transportation Systems, a leading integrator of information technology and payment systems and services for intelligent travel solutions, will supply Chicago area regional transit operators Chicago Transit Authority (CTA); suburban bus operator Pace; and Metra, the commuter rail system, with an integrated mobile application and system supporting a wide variety of mobile ticketing...... |
Local Metra, Amtrak Come Up With Plan To Deal With Union Station Overcrowding
December 16, 2014 7:29 PM
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2014/12/...ding/#comments (CBS) -- Metra and Amtrak have a new plan to deal with overcrowding at Chicago Union Station, reports WBBM’s Bob Roberts. More than 67,000 of Union Station’s 120,000 weekday passengers ride on the BNSF line, so it doesn’t take much for riders to find a crowd..... |
^ That's a misleading headline.
Seems like the simple solution would be to post a few LED screens at each entrance to Union Station, which could display emergency alerts and service changes. They could display ads the other 90% of the time, like CTA's screens do. |
Quote:
After reconfiguring the station, then build a modern-spec office tower with cantilevered footprint, a la 150 N Riverside (or on a straddling platform, etc.). At some point 222 will be a Class C relic anyway so why not act now before sinking infrastructure investment into inferior station alternatives. |
Yes, that^
|
Quote:
How many buildings would have to go in order to afford the opportunity to convert Union Station to arrow-straight, 100% through platforms, with the absolute optimal throat design? Everything on the four blocks between the Civic Opera Building and Old Post Office? (10, 120, 222, and 300 S. Riverside Plaza) These are not particularly distinguished buildings. Realign the tracks to modern specs, build the platforms, and then sell the primo air rights at 10, 120, and 300 S Riverside. What about 222? I say, put a real, gorgeous, modern head house on top of the tracks, with lots of retail, but no office overbuild, at 222. With a new headhouse at 222, the existing headhouse becomes kind of superfluous, so what to do? Maybe expand it vertically and convert to a hotel? Maybe even demolish it (though that wouldn't be my first choice)? It's old and it's historic, I get that - but honestly to me it's really not that attractive, nor is it especially useful as a train station, being a block west of where the trains are. The only real transportation use I see is if the Clinton Street Subway is ever built: it could serve as a connecting concourse between the subway and Union Station. How much would this all cost? Perhaps about a $billion to acquire and demolish plus another $billion to build the station? Even at $2 billion, that would be way, way less than whatever scheme to dig a new new four-track station cavern under Canal Street. Good, I say, make it so. |
The first order of cost figures for the rail tunnel are under $1 billion, per an engineering study by Hatch Mott MacDonald. Including a new Red Line tunnel and an underground busway would easily push it into the billions, but you get a whole lot more new transit connections.
|
Quote:
also, civic opera bldg. is east of the river on wacker. maybe you refer to the old daily news bldg. |
Quote:
Demolishing 222 alone, and then using the Post Office as the station, is one possible solution, but you still wind up with a bit of an inefficient mess at track level because the northern and southern tracks at Union Station don't line up with each other, and the columns supporting the Post Office itself lie in the way of modernizing the track layout. Demolishing all four blocks would be expensive, but then you get to start with a blank slate. Quote:
|
A Smart way to meet Transit Needs: The CTA Gray Line
Please plan to attend this Free CTA Gray Line Information Event at the Henry George School on Wednesday January 21st,
your Questions, Comments and Input are welcomed: http://hgchicago.org/event/a-smart-w...ay-line/?insta http://www.civicartworks.com/project...opular&phase=1 |
Tremendous ideas about union station. The issue is a funding source. I would reconstitute the Illinois Sports Facility Authority in to a central area transit infrastructure fund for name sake projects downtown.
Once the current us cell and soldier field obligations are retired, let the sports franchises pay for and manage their own stadium ops. |
I've been reading a lot about the Union Station modernization plan.
- It seems that they are considering separating the mainline rail tunnel from the CTA tunnel. Mainline rail would be on Canal, the CTA (pipedream) tunnel would be on Clinton. They are probably going to ditch the pedestrian mezzanine from Union to Ogilvie, and the bus/streetcar level is out of the plans as well. Anyways, it seems a mainline tunnel would require electric trains, which aren't going to happen until we get real high speed rail in the Midwest. - I think the tunnel is unnecessary if through tracks can be built. Is 222 Riverside the only thing in the way of through tracks? It seems Metra thinks through tracks will be detrimental to their operations. :brickwall: - Is the Post Office a good location for the station? It would still require the through track issue to be solved, in which case a new station might as well be built at the current site. - Tangential thought/question. It seems that with a CREATE project, Amtrak trains can be rerouted and the 16th St rail line can be abandoned. Any chance Metra will reuse this line for a crosstown service from the Northern/Western suburbs into the Electric District line? A proposal has been floated called "Crossrail Chicago", but if it isn't taken seriously I wouldn't be surprised if the line is abandoned and removed. |
All times are GMT. The time now is 10:25 PM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.