Not to mention the ME is by far the best way to get to the MSI from the Loop area! ;) Nothing against the Hyde Park Express buses, but the ME is quicker, and more spacious. Heh

Yes, ME needs to be absorbed into CTA so it can run as part of the core network and have its schedule beefed up a bit.

Aaron (Glowrock)

I’m thinking about hopping on the Metra with the fam to go to Chicago Blues Fest

The only thing is, as of 2020 I decided to stop renting out my downtown condo garage space to tenants (demand plummeted last year, of course) and simply keep it for my own use. So the promise of “free” downtown parking makes the train less necessary.

Except that I still enjoy riding the Metra. It’s also a fun experience for kids and, of course, you don’t have to worry about drinking and driving. We can literally ride our bikes from my house to our Metra station.

I’ve been pointing out for years that RLE is an incredibly bad transit investment, with a cost per new rider that must be approaching $100 ($6 was historically the general FTA threshold for worthwhile projects). Transit should be put where there’s density (of residents or jobs). Not where it’s cheap; or to pay political debts.

The core of the problem is that the Red Line Extension runs through an empty area. Fewer than 2000 people—total—live within a quarter-mile walk of all 4 RLE stops combined. The entire last mile runs through sludge drying beds and a sewage treatment plant. The entire Riverdale Community Area has fewer than 2500 households.

Every single household within a mile of the new terminal (about 3000 households) could be built a new $300,000 home within walking distance of an existing Green Line station for less than half the cost of this boondoggle—and the Red Line wouldn't thereafter be wasting countless service hours running empty trains back and forth to the forest preserve.


https://i.imgur.com/oE8A6Hd.jpg

As I remember the original Red Ahead plan, the goal was to increase capacity on the Red/Brown/Purple lines by 50%. This would be done as follows:

1. The Belmont flyover would allow the number of trains running in each direction on the north-side mainline to increase from 44 per hour (22 on each track) to 56 per hour (28 on each track).

2. Longer term, the number of cars on each train would increase from 8 to 10 on the Red line and from 6 to 8 on the Purple line.

The Howard, Kimball and 98th St yards are already full and Orange line trains are currently being sent to the Brown during peak times. So a 50% increase in Red/Purple/Brown capacity would require a new large train yard and 130th St was selected as the best place to put the yard.

Now, the Belmont flyover is close to completion and I assume will me its goal.

I don’t know about plans to increase the length of the trains. Are the new Lawrence – Bryn Mawr Stations being built to handle 10 car trains? If they are, then the City's plans are on track and we need the new yard at 130th St.

It is still very hard to reconcile how an agency would see the RLE as having more potential than a Brown Line subway connection to the Blue @ Jeff Park. The whole thing wreaks of political favor.

Five years ago, the cost of Red Ahead was estimated to be $4.7 billion for RPM on the north side plus $2.3 billion for RLE on south side for $7 billion in total. $2 billion was funded in the final days of the Obama administration. Which leaves $5 billion remaining, plus a couple billion for cost increases.

For this you get a 50% increase in capacity on the north side mainline. In other words the Red, Brown and Purple lines will be able to deliver 50% more northsiders to their jobs downtown every day. Which is worth way way more than extending the Brown Line to Jeff Park.

Or put another way, I see the vast majority (say, 90%) of the benefits of Red Ahead (including RLE) going to riders on the north side.

If the new railyard was not a factor in the ability for increased service on the north side Red, the RLE to 130th compared to the benefit of a Brown extension to Jefferson Park (and even interlining to O'Hare) wouldn't even be close.

Yes :)

Talk about tail wagging dog!

There are lots of cheap places to put a new yard near 95th, or turn back every other train at Chinatown to match where the boardings actually are. RLE is possibly the most expensive possible solution short of digging a massive underground cavern.

we have one of those too, don't we?

I'm guessing the CTA would need a pocket track south of Chinatown to accomplish that at peak headways but yea still waaaay cheaper than doing the RLE even if you have to rebuild a bridge to accommodate it.

As I understand it, the CTA's goal is to run 28 10-car trains per hour on the northside Red line during rush hour. A round trip to 95th St and back takes 2 hours; so that's 56 trains running at a time.

A turn back in Chinatown cuts the round trip to 80 minutes. So if all the trains turned back, there'd be 37 running at a time (two thirds of 56). And if half the trains turn back then the number running is 47. Times 10 cars per train is 470 cars on the line at a time.

Between 12:30 and 5 in the morning, trains are 15 minutes apart which is four per hour. Which means 8 trains on the line at a time. Or 80 cars.

So 390 cars need to go to a train yard at night. And the Howard and 95 St yards at at capacity. A Chinatown turnback won't help with this. Which is why the CTA needs another big yard.

As for a cheaper alternative, just name one. I personally think $5 billion spent on Red Ahead is a good investment.

Personally I would extend the Red Line one stop down the Bishop Ford with a transfer to Metra Electric at Chicago State. New yard just east of there, either along 99th St or in the middle of the Bishop Ford/Stony Island interchange.

I would support a one stop Red Line extension that would remain in the median of the Bishop Ford with a new terminal station at 103rd. There is plenty of room for a large southern Red Line yard in the vicinity of I-94/103rd/Stony Island. The median r.o.w. south of 103rd disappears making 103rd the reasonable and cost effective terminal. Options could include a large park-n-ride facility as well as the potential for an infill station at Chicago State University with possible ME infill station, though being already served by ME @ 95th, would probably be redundant.

Wow ardecila, do we share a brain or something?:haha: That's some funny stuff...

Great minds as they say:tup:

Build new yard to the east of the Skokie shops to stash rolling stock for the Red Line peak service.

No RLE.

Thanks Ardecila and Busy Bee. I'm not sure what I think's the best site but those are good options.

K1052: Are you talking about Skokie shops in Skokie?

yes

Cold Take: I would much rather see additional orange line stops between downtown and Midway, plus extensions of the green line in Woodlawn and Englewood. Would serve way more people in transit-starved neighborhoods.

A healthy transit agency in a healthy city in a healthy state in a healthy country should and would be able to do both and then some.