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."

Mr. Downtown, in 35yrs as a Field Technician -- I've provided Office Machine and Copier repair service to hundreds of demolition, and construction sites; it's magnitudes more than "20". But we shall see won't we!

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.

Could we just spend all the money on buying and tearing down 222 S Riverside?

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^

Why stop there.

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.

why do all this when there is an empty, over 2 mil. sq. ft. bldg. directly above the tracks just waiting to be reconfigured: the old post office

also, civic opera bldg. is east of the river on wacker. maybe you refer to the old daily news bldg.

Using the post office for some services and keeping Union Station pretty much as-is would be a decent short term solution, but just using the post office as a station does not solve the capacity issues imposed by the limited number of run-through tracks. There is only room for 3 through tracks between the river and the existing Union Station concourse, which is inadequate, and there is no way to add more without building the big proposed tunnel complex under Canal Street, or possibly demolishing at least 222.

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.

Oops, you are right.

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.