I did come across this at one point...not sure if it's the current station design
https://s24.postimg.org/huloktdvp/RENDER_3.jpg

I wonder if the renewed push for an express rail link between O'Hare and downtown is an attempt to lure federal funding given Trump's stance on infrastructure. Not that I would agree that is the best use of funds... but politically it probably looks/sounds better than fixing up Red Line North or one of the other incremental improvement projects. Having a proposal ready and waiting with just funding required would increase the chance of getting such funding. Rahm knows how to play the game, after all.

Is it shovel ready? :shrug:
I don't think Trump's definition of shovel ready will be the same as Obama's. :rolleyes:

Trump hasn't released many specifics on infrastructure other than vague support for more investment. I think it's a pretty safe bet that he (personally) will prefer projects that are big, flashy, and sleek - not the shovel-ready highway widenings and rebuild projects that most state DOTs have on deck. Likely he would prefer marquee projects he can take credit for - new airport terminals, signature bridges, and yes, airport express trains where they make sense like Chicago or New York.

It would also serve business travelers and elites, which Trump (despite his rhetoric) is sure to empathize with.

Ya, but we'd have to name it the Trumpmobile and have it emblazoned on each of the cars in letters so big, they block the windows.

sorry but youre really naive. this guy has zero interest in expanding public transit. we'll be lucky if we continue to get any federal funds, period.

Rahm in DC right now talking to Kushner, for the record

It's not that clear-cut. There are three questions here - what does Trump personally think, what do his shadowy advisors think, and what can he actually accomplish given Congress?

Trump himself doesn't give a flying you-know-what about the dogma of the Republican platform. He will do what works best with his voters to show them that he is a builder president. On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly mentioned that America needs to make more investments in intercity rail. This cuts in the face of Republican dogma; Trump doesn't care. High-speed rail is sexy and marketable in a way that regular buses, light rail, and subways are not, so I expect Trump to throw his support behind it. Likewise, an airport express train as proposed in Chicago and New York (and now LA) definitely falls on the "sexy" side of the ledger, so I don't see why Trump wouldn't support them.

Trump's advisors are a bit of an unknown - I doubt Steve Bannon would support investments in rail or public transit, but I also think transportation policy is small potatoes to him - he's more concerned with foreign relations. However, Jared Kushner seems to be the guy for domestic policy, and he is a pretty savvy New York developer like Trump who no doubt understands the importance of public transportation and intercity rail.

Congressional Republicans are just as hostile to intercity rail and public transit as they have always been, but the fact that Trump is also a Republican means that the leadership in Congress will not show the same obstructionism to Trump that they did to Obama.

I think they could turn, if they feel there's a lack of good faith for their "wants"; particularly, on the part of Speaker Ryan.

It all depends on other public policy - and controversies.

The real question is how many Republicans would need to be massaged, and how much, while also keeping in mind how appealing any proposal put forth to appease Republicans would be to Democrats.

Obama proposed virtually everything that Trump is expected to try - as far as funding goes. That won't be lost on many voters...or Members of Congress.

DNAInfo is reporting that Rahm is in Washington asking for federal aid to help combat crime and the unemployment rate in many Chicago neighborhoods. One of the proposals Rahm is requesting is renovation of the Green Line, where many jobs would be created from revitalizing the line. Not sure what Rahm has in mind for renovation plans. Possibly restoring the Jackson Park branch to its full length?

Rahm Neighborhood Fed Wish List: Agents, Green Line Fix, After-School Help
https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/2017...er-school-help

it was just renovated 20 years ago? Shouldn't he be hard-selling full funding for the Red-Purple north, or even pushing full funding of a Clinton Subway with the full glory of a West Loop Transportation Center coupled with HSR to St Louis, Detroit or Cleveland, MSP, Indy+Cincy? AND full funding for all those rail delay removal projects?

The Sun Times was more specific by saying that Rahm is seeking renovation of the south leg, and its two branches. Still does seem odd to ask for a renovation only 20 years later, especially when the Green Line runs pretty smoothly for most of the stretch. Then again, Rahm is two years from the election and he may be trying to appeal to mid-South Side residents. But if that was the case, it would be much better use of funds to convert the MED to a true rapid transit line.

http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/ema...ta-green-line/

Greg Hinz also points out that the Green Line was rebuilt two decades ago (but did that cover the south side branches too?). And he also passes on a statement by a spokesman about the Rahm-logic in proposing this: "Rebuilding the Green Line is one way the administration could 'send in the feds,' create jobs, and help improve public safety..." (Translation: Not much idea about fixing crime, but we can pretend we're spending tons of money trying, and also have something new and shiny to show black voters in the next election.)

Emanuel's D.C. wish list: More anti-crime help, Green Line rebuild

Reader comments include Mike Payne angst about yet another infrastructure decision that ignores the Gray Line.

(Edit: I see Randomguy also did the Rahm-logic translation, plus he covered the Gray Line angle too.)

Fwiw, I do see both Trump and Rahm as fairly seriously disposed to getting an airport express built. Whether their dedication is enough to overcome whatever the biggest hurdles will be, I have no idea, but I think they're serious about looking at it. And with the all-new ORD T2 on the cusp of planning and design, the Dept of Aviation also could direct some efforts at a possible airport express project at a moment of perfect timing. (Union Station redevelopment adds to this rare syzygy.) It could flop for various reasons along the way, but things are aligned right now more than they ever have been.

The one interesting tidbit from the latest declarations about the OHare express are the released images that portray the O'Hare express terminal station being located between the current O'Hare Hilton and the ATS Terminal 2 station.

If T2 does end up serving as the primary security/customs terminal gateway for the airport that actually makes a good deal of sense. Now what route the tracks take to get to that location I'm not sure. What I really ponder is how at the very end of its journey it will get around the Hilton. Unless it shares the ATS tracks for a small segment I don't see anyway for the express to reach that spot.

Do you have a link to the image are you referring to? If that's not just a new ATS station then presumably it involves a new tunnel. If they're going to end up using the Canadian National tracks, and if they end up undertaking something really ambitious, they could branch off between Schiller Park and Rosemont, head west on a viaduct or underground, and then go underground. That would be like 1.7 miles to the Hilton area, although there are various stretches where cut-and-cover seems possible (including alongside a taxiway if feasible). Quite expensive but I don't know if a straight TBM could be cheaper than a circuitous alternative that deals with endless acrobatics of threading around or relocating other roads, utilities, etc. Unfortunately there's also the cost of the station. So the govt would really have to have decided this was a very important investment for the region's future. But that particular spot of T2 is so central that you could end up with a link with downtown that's so comfortable, fast and painless that it becomes the overwhelming default choice for most trips. (They could then further nudge people out of cars by adding a toll or livery surcharge for the airport roadway.)

It's obviously a very preliminary place-holder design but still interesting to see where the planner's minds are first heading.....

via Chicago Reader via the City of Chicago
https://media1.fdncms.com/chicago/im...?cb=1456758451
http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago...t?oid=21215854

http://cdn.abclocal.go.com/content/w...86_800x450.jpg

Looks like a colossal waste of money. For the money you would be better off connecting Brown to Blue and triple tracking most of the way out to O'hare from there. THAT would provide much better access to O'hare AND add a lot of value to the everyday riders along those routes. I have no idea the obsession with the express train. It is just not worth it in my book.

Tripple tracking with what land/area/space?

well silly they simply need to rebuild the roadway at the same time...duh! 8) Honestly, i do not know enough about train frequency or how many spots you would need a third track to allow for express but if you are going to spend a ton of money ....this is where i would put my dollars.

was wondering about this the other day on the Kennedy. If money were no object, would you put the ORD express train up on poles over the expressway or tunnel under it?

Yes, it did, and they shut down the whole damn line for two years while they worked on it. The lesson learned from that was that you don't shut down a line for two years and expect ridership to bounce back very well. Hence why the Pink Line rebuild did not shut down the line and took twice as long but didn't result in a collapse of ridership.

If money were no object, I'd personally want a deep tunnel going directly, as the crow flies, between O'Hare and downtown. Safe from the weather, no impact on adjacent uses, can go as fast as acceleration allows it to. It seems like if you did it that way, you could make that into a 15 minute trip, departure to arrival. If money were no object, allowing it to be that fast would mean you could afford two stops at O'Hare (main terminals and international), and two, maybe even three, stops downtown (Water Tower, Central Loop, McCormick), without making the longest segment uncompetitive.

Actually an express from ORD to downtown could be a pretty good use case for a "hyperloop" system, and having it in an underground tunnel would probably make it safer from an engineering standpoint. Of course if something failed catastrophically it would make it much harder to rescue and recover from, too.

Of course money is always a factor.

An Ohare hyperloop. Just when I thought Id heard it all.

Here's one vote for a thread for transit if money was no object. Another for transit if politics was no object. Maybe just combine the two. I'd never get anything done...

I imagine the study being performed now for the O'Hare Express will explore a few different alignments, considering capital cost, travel time, and terminal locations at each end.

The original (Daley-era) study included an option to build a fourth track along UP-NW and then an elevated structure above the Kennedy from Austin westward, but Daley decided to move forward with an option running expresses on the Blue Line.

There's also an alignment following the current route of the Metra NCS line, and an alignment using CSX's Altenheim Sub through River Forest, maybe using the Eisenhower corridor or UP-W to reach the Loop.

"Make no big plans, they have no magic to stir men's tax bill" - Current Chicagoans

www.brandnewsubway.com

I thought some of you might enjoy this. It's a nifty tool that lets you build your own metro system. Unfortunately the only pre-loaded map option is New York, so you'd have to start from scratch in Chicago. It does let you save your map though. I played around with it a bit - nothing too scientific or well thought out. Couple screenshots below.

http://kngkyle.com/uploads/213750.png

http://kngkyle.com/uploads/213850.png

(fully expecting people to criticize my fake map now)

My own fake map, made with illustrator
http://oi63.tinypic.com/1z3qjav.jpg

Looks like a colossal expenditure of money. For less money you probably could just TBM a mile or two tunnel from the NCS.

Also, do you have any clue what you're responding to? Those renderings could be exactly what you yourself are suggesting, just with a new terminal station.


If Brown is connected to Blue, that's nice, but it has extremely little to do with solving the airport access issue. If the Kennedy is widened, that would indeed be a wet dream of triple or twin double-tracking, but the concept of highway expansion hasn't been broached at all, so it's like a discussion where money is no object.


Those renders are 12 months old, before Parsons Brinckerhoff was hired to examine routes, so they indeed reflect ideas that are now just place-holders. However they do remind us that the the idea of demolishing the Hilton could really open up space for better rail connections, even if just improving the pokey ATS and its podunk-scaled stations (only 1 tiny elevator and 1 narrow escalator per station) or, say, extending the CTA tunnel a couple hundred feet and have a modern-spec station where even express trains (with separate fare control) could berth.

Tantalizingly, demolishing the Hilton would also finally make productive all the under-used space on its north side, which is now just an intercity bus depot occupying what used to be Terminal 4 plus like 5 roadway lanes. The T4 bus depot could easily -- and should -- be relocated to the CONRAC area, so when combined with the dead space south of the Hilton, there's a very large area of land with tremendous potential.

Demolishing the Hilton would be somewhat of an architecture and planning loss. However new hotel construction is already being planned on the massive surface lot nearby. Afterwards, a modern hotel structure could even be erected in the space left over after redevelopment, nicely monetizing that land and providing amenities. I don't think any contractual terms with Hilton would be an obstacle.

IIRC, the city has expressed it's intent to renovate and expand the existing hotel and is looking for operators/developers to do that. I presume Hilton's agreement is up or will be soon.

I'm also pretty sure the shuttle bus center is going out to the CONRAC.

Could be a new station but that would be an even bigger waste of money in my book since you already have 1 for the Blue line. Personally i would just rather see upgrades to the L system instead(some i listed before). I see no need for all this money for an airport express to begin with. I used to go to Ohare every week for work on the Blue line. If i was sick of it i drove. Nobody is making their decision to come to Chicago based on if we have an express train from the airport. If they are the type to ride public tran they will. If they are a business traveler they are expensing a cab or limo anyway. Improving access to Ohare from the west would be a wise choice also, maybe do something more with that shiny new highway that dead ends at York Rd.

Agreed. NYC doesn't even have train access to JFK or LaGuardia. I'd rather see infill stations and expansion of what we do have. Also the connector project.

NYC has access to JFK from the A at Howard Beach and LIRR/E-J-Z at Jamaica via Airtrain. Seems that Cuomo is also serious about building an LGA Airtrain to Willets Point LIRR/7...though I can think of few less pleasurable things than trying to manhandle luggage on the frequently packed 7 trains.

I wouldn't be opposed to express ORD rail if it was part of a larger scheme that involved Amtrak's Hiawatha Service and Metra (some version of the Crossrail proposal). As a dedicated airport only express I think the financial case is pretty dubious based upon other cities experiences.

City Not Enforcing Traffic Laws to Help Loop Link Run Smoothly: Records

http://www.nbcchicago.com/investigat...413792133.html




https://www.planetizen.com/files/sty...?itok=Ym5ROuIM

Rail Spur at 13th and State
 

This may have been covered before, but does anyone know what the rail line that runs under the L tracks and branches under State at the intersection of 13th Street and State is/was used for? Is it access for the freight tunnels under downtown? https://imgur.com/a/zwls1

That's the Red line subway portal.

Before the CTA introduced colored line names in the 1990s, trains from Howard used to run to Jackson Park/63rd using that portal. In the 90s, CTA built a new subway tunnel between Roosevelt and Cermak-Chinatown, allowing for today's Red Line service from Howard to 95th.

After this rejiggering, the old subway portal was no longer needed. Now it's just used to switch cars between yards, or for temporary reroutes due to emergency or construction on the Loop tracks.

^And that portal will again be used many times a day this year. To aid construction of the new 95th St. terminal, every other rush period Red Line North train will be sent to the Green Line South rather than to 95th. I'm guessing this is so they can only use a single track at the 95th terminal to turn trains back north; that rush period headways are too frequent to get one train headed back north before a second one arrives.

News flash at 11: City not enforcing traffic laws." This is probably one of the biggest problems in Chicago. There is an atmosphere of lawlessness in this city. Hardly any drivers in any part of the city follow the rules of the road. CPD needs to start really enforcing these things. Maybe then crime would start to go down in the city. If people were more aware that they are being watched.

^ Why can't they hook cameras up to the buses to take photos? that would seem the easiest way. Hell, give the drivers cameras.

IIRC, a state law would be required to allow that.

At least vehicle throughput and bicycle safety has improved. I feel a lot safer crossing intersections and biking down Washington to work since everyone has their own light. Sorry, I predicted from the beginning that transit vehicles on separated and fixed guideways with special signaling is the way to go. Either the highest standard of BRT or light rail vehicles.

The only alternative at this point is not to invest in some costly enforcement system, but wait for the auto industry to perfect autonomous vehicles that will probably improve a lot of reliability in the grid. May sound crazy, but thinking you can easily solve over a century old problem and change behavior is also kind of crazy.

Wilson Red Line station on final phase of renovation

And a tweet from the mayor with photos: https://twitter.com/ChicagosMayor/st...57704189505536

https://metrarail.com/about-metra/ne...-metra-station

Anyone know about this?

It sounds like Metra is willing to consider frequent service when conventioneers demand it, but not when the hundreds of thousands living on the South Side demand it.

Nevermind that there is literally a dedicated road for conventioneers already, fully grade-separated and not cheap to build.

The crossover track would allow Metra to run rail shuttles from Millennium Station to McCormick Place, and then switch back to the inbound track to head northward again. Presumably convention organizers and/or McPier would pay for this... I sure hope so, because I don't want a cent of my tax dollars going toward such a useless, redundant project.

Metra opening bids to comlpete Ravenswood Station SB and additional bridge work

Metra seeks bids for UP North bridge project, Ravenswood Station
(March 7, 2017) -
Metra is seeking bids for the next phase of the multi-year Union Pacific North bridge project, which will replace bridges over 11 streets on the North Side of Chicago, as well as construct the inbound half of the new Ravenswood Station, the agency announced today.
.....

The second phase consists of new bridges for the inbound tracks over Grace, Irving Park, Berteau, Montrose, Sunnyside, Wilson, Leland, Lawrence, Winnemac, Foster and Balmoral. Construction of the bridges for the outbound tracks over the same 11 streets and related retaining wall work on the west side was completed in the first phase.
....

The work also includes construction of the inbound half of the Ravenswood Station, the busiest station on the UP North Line outside of downtown. The completed inbound half will mirror the outbound half of the station, which was completed in the first phase. The project will add longer, covered platforms and warming shelters, new lighting, space for a ticket office, vendor space, ramps, stairs and new landscaping. The new station will be fully compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Tuck-pointing the existing masonry abutments and sidewalk restoration are also included in this phase. No retaining wall work is planned along the east side of the right-of-way, except at Ravenswood Station. The project is expected to cost around $45 million.

Work should start this summer and take about 30 months. When this phase is complete, the project will move on to bridges over 11 streets between Addison and Webster.


Metra Improvements at Grayland Station include parking bike racks landscape and lighting

(March 15, 2017) -
Metra today announced plans to construct a commuter parking lot at the Grayland Station on the Milwaukee North Line.

The project will add a 68-space parking lot on the east side of Kilbourn Avenue, between Milwaukee and Patterson avenues in Chicago. The Grayland Station, where more than 300 commuters board every weekday, currently has eight parking spaces.
....
Work on the $1.2 million project is expected to begin this summer and be complete by the end of the year. Metra will fund the work primarily with a federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality grant.

"I'm thrilled that Metra is moving forward with this needed improvement, creating a greater opportunity for residents to take transit in our community,” said Alderman John Arena (45th). “This is a great complement to the new Divvy station at Grayland, as well as the multiple bus routes within easy walking distance."

Construction will also include a retaining wall, sidewalks, ADA curb ramps, stairs, landscaping, lighting, signage, pavement markings and bike racks.

That platform is wide like NY's 2nd Avenue Subway. Whenever I'm in town, I'm in Uptown and Rogers Park a lot so I can't wait to see this in person.


On a semi-related note, how's Washington/Wabash going? Is it in the "any day now" phase yet?

30' (or 10m) platforms are a pretty universal standard for heavy rail systems worldwide. Often the platforms are made narrower on tight sites, or for cost-saving reasons. At Wilson it appears there was plenty of space, so the platforms are 28' wide - pretty close to the ideal.

Washington/Wabash is coming along nicely, both of the Calatrava-esque canopies have started to be framed out. I would have taken a photo if not for my crappy smartphone camera...:(

src: New Loop L Stop Construction To Shut Down Wabash Avenue Traffic

Here's How Bicyclists, Runners Will Be Split On Revamped Lakefront Path
https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/2017...it-will-launch

from a couple months ago....


hate to say i told you so. but told you so.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/c...328-story.html