Metra finally issuing an RFP for 200 bilevel cars with options for 200 more. So happy that only one manufacturer even responded to the previous RFP for new gallery cars so they had to actually bother looking at modern bilevels.

Also seems the VW settlement money has shaken loose. Conditions of the funding mean Metra has to buy the most modern locomotives with Tier 4 emissions so that probably means we'll actually be seeing SC-44s at some point in the future since the EMD F125 is a disaster.



https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...319-story.html

^ What even are the options for modern bilevels?

I can only think of the Bombardier and Kawasaki ones. Siemens has one overseas, but I'd guess it doesn't meet US regulations or they would have offered it up when the Amtrak deal with Nippon Sharyo went belly up. Instead they are offering single-level coaches like the ones for Brightline.

CRRC could probably do it, but Congress is hot to sever ties with them. Anybody else?

Rotem somewhat recently supplied new bilevels to MBTA, TriRail, andMetrolink.

CRRC as you mentioned is building new bilevels for SEPTA.

Yeah, there are at least 4 or 5 companies likely to submit proposals. I don't have a strong preference on what gets selected at this point. Just happy to see the end of the inefficient and ancient gallery design on the distant horizon since Metra has no choice.

The gallery car is obsolete, but I will miss the old-school Metra seating. Far more comfortable than any train, domestic or overseas, I've ever ridden in... and I love the option to flip the seat.

^Really??? I bring an inflatable lumbar support any time I have to ride Metra very far.

^ I love the padded bench seating and hate the airplane-style seats on Amtrak and most other intercity carriers. Bench seats let you spread out or adjust to different positions.

does anyone know whats going on with the proposed new State/Lake CTA stop? funding was announced in 2017:

https://chicago.curbed.com/2017/10/1...a-station-loop

havent heard a peep since. its truly a functional disaster in its current state and gets worse by the day

Good question! Given that I was literally just at the State/Lake stop transferring from Green to Red and vice/versa, it's definitely quite the disaster in terms of ease of access and room to maneuver around! :)

Aaron (Glowrock)

New $17 Million CTA Belmont Blue Line Station Completed

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/...328-story.html

CDOT usually funds these station projects using CMAQ grants from the Feds... IDOT has to allocate the CMAQ money up to 5 years in advance of when the Feds actually release the money.

I'm sorry, but they spent $17 million with all these architectural flourishes, but adding an elevator to be handicap accessible was "too expensive"? Give me a break.

Late to the party, but while I do agree that flip-back seating is overwhelmingly the best configuration, I have ridden trains with flip-back seating in Japan that were overwhelmingly superior to what they have on Metra. This is a picture of such from the 225-class that operates in the Kansai area.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...000_inside.jpg

Also, Stadler is dramatically ramping up their US operations and I would be surprised if they do not bid on this.

Too bad Metra already replaced the Highliners - Stadler is building bilevel EMUs for Caltrain based on their KISS model, which would look just fantastic on the ME and South Shore. They have a really awesome system for dual-height boarding, too. A configuration that supports both AC and DC overhead is available and would be the perfect trains for Metra to order to help with future electrification.

Please don't get me going. Watching Metra replace those IC Highliners with those artless anachronisms was like witnessing the devolution of Man.

These are what I'm praying for if Metra gets the money to electrify the Rock Island.

I dunno. After Nippon Sharyo's debacle trying to get bilevel cars to meet the FRA's buff strength requirements, Stadler's gotta be thinking twice.

All their other US orders will operate outside of the FRA regulatory environment, either because the railroads have sought and received waivers from those rules, or because they're considered rapid transit and don't fall under FRA jurisdiction.

I know FRA revised their rules recently, but IIRC they don't help Metra very much since their trains mix so much with freight, time separation or other techniques used to reduce collision risk don't apply here.

Metra Electric, as usual, is the exception... I agree it would be the perfect environment for Stadler bilevels. Rock Island also, since Metra keeps the freight traffic there to a minimum and it is grade separated from all intersecting railroads between the South Loop and New Lenox.

The thing is that vehicles built under the new FRA Crash Energy Management rules (based on European standards) are actually safer in crashes, even with freight, than stuff built under the old buff strength regs. Think: modern cars with crumple zones vs. old heavy cars. Are you safer in a Tesla or a 1970s Volvo? Although old Volvos have a reputation for being built like a tank, modern standards and crash testing means that literally any vehicle built in 2019 is way, way safer than something from back then. FRA did not relax their standards of passenger safety when they approved CEM crash standards. CEM does not make mixed operation with freight less desirable or less safe. CEM is a more stringent standard period. FRA is just so slow that it took them literally decades to wake up.

Although the Stadler KISS are under a waiver in California, it is likely that it would meet the FRA CEM standards with a few relatively minor changes (different type of glass, emergency egress configuration, etc)

^Different type of glass?

European standards for tempered glass are different than US standards or some such. Don't quote me on that. Something I vaguely recall from some blog or forum post. The point is, the new FRA regs are very closely based on European regs with which the KISS is already compliant. The Caltrain EMU carbodies were tested for strength in some capacity as a part of the waiver process (not quite sure the specifics of the test) but they passed.

Not so fast there, what you state was true but not now. DCTA GTWs met every old FRA regulation - the sole exceptions being associated with buff strength - with the new Crash Energy Management (CEM) alternate regulations replaced.
CapMetro's GTWs had European standard glass, seating, and others vs meeting the old FRA regulations - but are presently going through the effort to make all of their GTWs, pre DCTA and post DCTA versions, to match the DCTA GTWs. All subsequent Stadler trains built for the US market are fully FRA compliant, alternate only using CEM vs meeting the older buff strength standard.

So the KISS trains being built by Stadler for Caltrain will have US vendor supplied safety glass and seats, etc. meeting even the older FRA regulations for those items. It took Stadler time and money to find these US vendors so as to meet the new FRA alternate compliance regulations, time and money working with the FRA, with Texas and California transit agencies and their Congressmen and Senators working behind the scenes to get the regulations changed.

The new metro style trains being built for Atlanta will also meet all the FTA regulations when it comes to glass and seats and etc. because Stadler has vendors in its American supply chain that can build these items to FTA and FRA regulations.

They might be an European train manufacture using European based designs, but they have been modified to incorporate stuff meeting American regulations as much as possible - basically all except buff strength.