I honestly feel bad for Biagi - she got scapegoated for all of Lightfoot's incoherent transportation policies over the last four years. Public servants, even department commissioners, simply don't have the latitude to act on their own no matter how much experience they have or how well-intentioned they are. I'm very happy that pedestrian/cyclist/transit advocacy has become a stronger political force in the city, but I don't think it was helpful or productive to vilify her.

Biagi was great at Studio Gang and managing the buildout of Maggie Daley Park. I'm sure she will find another place to land...

Not sure if this was posted here yet, but I saw it on the Chicago YIMBY forums and thought it was a good overview of the CrossRail proposal and its impact on midwest cities, specifically Chicago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIPmGooGtuY&t=234s

Damen Green Line Station - Lake Street and Damen Avenue
 

August 15, 2023

https://www.chicagotribune.com/busin...tum-story.html

I'll believe it when I see it. At least there is a conversation moving forward, and I feel like now is the right time to have it (with the state government being in a good place).

Wasn't a developer planning a building that would cut off an HSR corridor? Any idea what happened with that and would it affect this kind of proposal?

Who is leading this project? Amtrak?

Blue Line Forest Park Branch Rebuild - Phase I
 

August 29, 2023

https://youtu.be/SeRwh2Wpww8?si=_LN7Jg82Chjj-_FQ They mention in this video that these projects are being looked at or are in planning by various railroad owners and agencies. The High Speed Rail Alliance (which is very Chicago-centric btw) is advocating for these projects to be seen as one effort and be coordinated to improve Amtrak and Metra service.

Good lord. So. Much. Space.

It's kinda ridiculous isn't it?

Wish it could be used for some sort of express service, but that wide median narrows by the time you get to Sacramento, so it would be probably unrealistic to widen the rest of the Blue Line ROW. The O'Hare branch of the Blue is much busier than the Forest Park branch, and would be much more deserving of an express option, especially since it would link the airport with the Loop. That is even less likely to happen, given the limitations of the O'Hare branch ROW. (Best bet is for an airport express would probably run on the NCS ROW)

I guess theoretically you could run an O'Hare express service down the Eisenhower and then up the Altenheim Subdivision? Not sure how in use that is or if it can be double tracked the whole way...

This has always been my preferred alignment to O'Hare if money was no object, but I think you'd have a huge battle with River Forest. Another advantage is that you could set up Forest Park or Harlem as an intermediate stop with a big parking garage - this is especially useful if the trains go into the terminal complex instead of O'Hare Transfer which sucks.

That said, I think NCS is not a bad alignment, it can be triple or quad tracked similar to Toronto's Pearson Express. The key to that is rebuilding A-2 with a flyover so it can handle frequent trains throughout the day, and Metra needs to do that anyway.

Yeah, I feel like NCS is the better way to go. I'm not a Metra expert, but it seems like it would be easier to add express trains to a set of tracks that isn't already packed with normal routes (like the Blue line). The only caveat is the current O'Hare station is way over by the multi-modal facility, so travelers would need to walk around and get onto the people mover, where the Blue Line lets you off right in front of the terminals without any need to take a people mover, unless you are going to T5.

CP (NCS) is a Class I headache that doesn't get you where you want to go anyway.

Metra already owns the Milw-W all the way out to Bensenville Yard. Branch off from there.

https://i.imgur.com/TwTkGLb.png

^ That would be the dream. I got to imagine that tunneling over a mile under active runways would be nightmarishly expensive however. I don't see our pols having an appetite for something like that anytime soon, despite the overwhelming economic benefits it would provide.

Wish we could have saved that worthless Block 37 "super station" money and put it towards this project. Instead, all we got was a useless station platform, and the closure of the Washington Red line station and the transfer tunnel to the Blue Line. And because its not being used, the city at some point will be responsible in paying the Feds back for their portion of that transit funding IIRC.

The High Speed Rail Alliance recently suggested using the Altenheim Sub for pulling all CPKC freights off the MD-W line east of Franklin Park.

The freights would turn south onto CN's Waukesha Sub (Metra NCS runs on the Waukesha Sub north of MD-W), continue onto CSX's Altenheim Sub eastbound, then turn south onto CSX's Blue Island Sub (former B&O Chicago Terminal tracks) out of town.

If even more capacity is required, trains running south on the Blue Island Sub could connect to CSX's Elsdon Sub (former GTW) at 49th Street, which also continues south out of the city.

The Elsdon and Blue Island Subs converge in Blue Island, and can connect to the CSX Barr Sub eastbound into Indiana, CPKC already has trackage rights on the Barr Sub.

Rerouting the freights in this manner would still give CPKC full access to their Bensenville Yard just south of O'Hare.

While not as whiz-bang as turning the Altenheim into an airport express route, it might be the most practical way of separating passenger and freight traffic, opening up enough capacity to allow for an airport express on the MD-W and keep CPKC from being able to control dispatching on that line as far as O'Hare.

I just saw the news about the funding for the red line extension.

In an ideal world, sure.

But given the cost of tunneling in this country (especially for diesel trains) I think a better move is to simply build 2 dedicated tracks along NCS. Then you can widen I-190 to create space for Metra tracks next to the Blue Line. I-190 is supposed to be rebuilt anyway...

Just heard about it as well. $2 billion from the feds, half of the cost of construction.

https://abc7chicago.com/cta-chicago-...sion/13752649/