Now we're up to the 1.5B range. If we're going to do that might as well figure out a way to connect it with the MED and through run.

There was supposed to be a metra station at Peterson Ave built for the last 5 years, but from what I can see Metra hasn't been able to secure funding for it yet.

They spent about 6 years it seems to rebuilt the Lawerence Ave station, and they are only halfway finished. It's hard to image them electrifying the line in our lifetime. At the pace they are going at Lawerence it seems like they must be hand carving the station out of marble blocks, lol!

Just doing more frequent trains would help alot, and getting some newer trains that don't belch diesel fumes.

Even without through-running, an electrified UPN has a lot of independent utility. Chicago (West) Loop and Evanston are both big, walkable hubs with significant anchors, and the corridor in between (at least south of Howard) probably has a lot of untapped potential for rail ridership.

But I do agree that it might make sense to choose a compatible DC electrification so that an eventual connection doesn't require MED to be reconstructed. You can punt on the actual connection, or find a way to use the SCAL on the cheap while waiting for a proper underground connection that actually serves part of the CBD.

There's also a whole debate about platform heights that turns into a huge chicken-and-egg problem. Good regional rail service requires high platforms and level boarding, but then Metra's bilevel trains can't use those platforms. How do you build a regional rail overlay on top of a Metra line? Caltrain's solution is to order a whole fleet of EMUs with two different sets of doors for use during the transition, which adds millions to the price of those cars.

Metra is heavily reliant on state funding for capital projects, and the state is not interested in investing in transit systems right now. CTA is a different story, it's tightly linked to Chicago as a single political body so Emanuel can do things like use TIF funding for stations in many parts of the city, or propose (and get approved!) a TIF district that covers the entire North Red Line corridor. If CTA did not enjoy the unwavering support of the mayor, it too would be crumbling like Metra is.

As a regional bureaucracy covering hundreds of small municipalities, Metra can only dream of such fundraising ability. Instead it has to rely on the state government, and all its inadequacies, as the only body of government with the power to raise money across Metra's entire territory.

I don't disagree that there are a lot of benefits. Communities along the route will have to buy in though with the transit TIF to come up with the money to accomplish it.

SCAL seems like the most likely option to though run even though it will require a somewhat costly bridge over the yard south of CUS to connect to the throat tracks. Still better than a tunnel and a crazy expensive deep station.

I'm trying not to ruin my morning thinking about the platform height issue.

Only in theory. UP-North takes 36 minutes to make 16 stops along 14.7 miles of track (Main St Evanston to Fort Sheridan). The much faster-accelerating Metra Electric, featuring high platforms for faster loading, takes 38 minutes to make 16 stops along 14 miles of track (87th St to Flossmoor).

Metra Electric's scheduling is hard to predict because the many flag stops add unpredictability. Presumably the trains have schedule padding to account for the possibility of one or several flag stops. 87th, in fact, is a flag stop which makes it an odd choice. There are only a handful of trains per day that could possibly make both stops. However, Metra schedules show a travel time between 28-31 minutes from 87th to Flossmoor. The fastest UP-N train covering Main St to Fort Sheridan, assuming all stops including Ravinia Park to keep the stop count the same, is 34 minutes.

34/28 = a 21% speed boost comparing EMU to diesel push=pull. This is roughly consistent with the 23% speed boost shown in the study I linked to above (if you compare the apples to apples numbers at 79mph). The slight difference can be chalked up to the general heavy weight of Metra Electric's EMUs compared to modern European designs, plus differences in the specifics of the station spacing.

Isn’t Metra diesel electric pretty much electric already ?


The Diesel drives the electric motors that run those trains I didn’t notice a major acceleration problem compared to other systems.


https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dies...c_transmission

It seems to me that the diesel electric locomotive us are basically a portable electric power station

EMUs would still have greater acceleration i would think because each car contributes, but I am no expert.

Yes, American diesel locomotives commonly use a diesel-electric transmission, but the "diesel" part of that equation imposes significant penalties on the overall weight of the train, the output of the generator, and thus the amount of torque the electric motor can produce.

Train performance is described by power to weight ratio and adhesion factor. The power-to-weight ratio of an EMU is roughly three times that of a diesel locomotive and passenger cars - it weighs hundreds of tons less, no need to haul heavy diesel fuel and generator, plus modern EMU designs are just generally lighter, using crumple zones like an auto instead of tons and tons of steel to make a perfectly rigid carbody. (These modern designs are technically illegal in the US because of our outdated ideas on train safety, but FRA often issues waivers to use modern designs under certain circumstances).

The adhesion factor is the other piece, and it is also much higher for an EMU, since there are many drive wheels spread throughout the train instead of just a handful up front. The adhesion factor explains why an EMU has significantly better performance than just an electric locomotive hauling unpowered coaches.

So why use locomotives at all? The advantages of EMUs are most profound when the train is either stopping frequently, or traveling at very high speed. So either for urban rail operations with closely-spaced stops, or high-speed rail above 150mph. For regional and intercity services with stops miles or tens of miles apart, where very high-speed travel isn't warranted, the locomotive-and-coaches model still makes a lot of sense. It's very easy to take apart and re-assemble trains and cheaper to maintain them. Some Metra lines with wide stop spacing (Heritage Corridor, Rock Island, NCS) probably don't warrant the extra expense of multiple-unit trains. I'm honestly not sure why South Shore continues to operate EMUs rather than just install better vent systems at Millennium Park.

Haha, a diesel generator is no substitution for the instantaneous juice you get from a 25kV overhead line. It's like the difference between a Dustbuster and a Shop-Vac.

Water taxi service may expand for new riverfront developments

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/c...611-story.html




http://www.trbimg.com/img-5b436696/t...ge/750/750x422

The Midwest High Speed Rail Association is asking for a letter writing (email&twitter) campaign support for the Cross Rail initiative. Link Here
You can read all about Cross Rail HERE
I believe in the CrossRail because it makes higher use of the MED/IC line and connects that line to CUS and west Loop and provides a one seat ride to Ohare for Southsiders and Hyde Parkers. Crossrail also envisions a stop at the "78" development and at Ashland Ave in Fulton Market. Providing links to our hottest sub market and to our next mega project.
Its an ambitous plan but one that modernizes existing assets Like the 2 bypass tracks that exist in CUS and the MDW rail row to Ohare.
There are grander plans envisioned like a tunnel tracks part of the West Loop Gateway station which would include the Clinton St Subway adn a tunnel track into the OHare terminals and possibly beyond. As in all major projects it will be incremental.
Anyway the link above is the least I or anyone can do to show support....

Car2Go coming to Chicago:

https://chicago.curbed.com/2018/8/9/...cago-car-share

I haven't seen this virtual walkthrough of the CTA Damen Green Line station posted yet...

• Video Link
src - Mayor's Office YouTube

Direct link to the video if it fails to appear in the post.

^ Nice, there even appears to be a lookout on that overhead crosswalk

Sorry, I'm less than impressed. There appears to be no paid entry access from the north side of Lake St. This will become THE United Center station; and further adjacent development will be encouraged. The resulting wear and tear on the stair sets, the bridge, and the SINGLE escalator on the south side will render this place a wreck in 2 years' time. I regret being negative; but I just can't get over the feeling that I'm getting the good old razzle-dazzle here to cover up poor and thoughtless engineering and flow.

I had the same concerns but the Ashland stop already provides a guide for the traffic patterns at the Damen station... most traffic comes from one side, or transfers from buses at the station doorstep. Very few pedestrians heading north into the industrial corridor. Even if they do, Lake isn’t a wide auto sewer like Western. Not hard to cross on foot.

Eventually the north exits can very easily be upgraded with high barrier gates if/when development comes to that north side. That probably won’t happen unless/until the PMD is opened up to residential. High-density office like Fulton Market seems unlikely given the 2 mile distance to Metra. For now it’s just a ComEd vehicle yard and other auto-oriented uses until you get up to Fulton.

Also you might be overestimating the wear and tear factor... this station is not really any closer to the United Center than the existing IMD stop on the Blue Line. It won’t be like Addison on game days.

food for thought; thanks.

But it's sort of stupid to build this station without the idea that the PMD will be opened up, right? If not, feels like the money could be better spent elsewhere (really, I just want them to open up the PMD though).

Separately, why not create entrances on the north side? I would assume it's not very expensive to install the barrier gates you mention. Why not do it? I say this as someone who tried to go up the north side of the Ashland station yesterday...

Frankly, I think having two *real* entrances (like most other stations) is way more valuable than the huge showcase entrance they are planning.

Construction on the new ‘Belmont Gateway’ Blue Line station presses forward
https://chicago.curbed.com/2018/9/17...eway-blue-line

This station design makes no sense to me. Those big roof petals are angled up to the north, meaning that the entrance is completely exposed to driving rain and blowing snow coming out of NW & NE storms. No protection from wind at all.
Why not build a real station that is built for people, instead of this worthless piece of modern art?

I’m not sure how ADA is construed by CTA, FTA, and MOPD, but they may frown upon a high-barrier gate entrance to the westbound platform that is only usable by the able-bodied. You could say the same about the exit-only stairs, but those are needed in case of emergency so a different standard applies.

As for the PMD, it seems very unlikely that the city will permit residential here in the foreseeable future. Even the Fulton Market portion of the Kinzie Corridor PMD that was repealed east of Ogden is still zoned for manufacturing and office/commercial uses only. But the city will present its draft recommendations for the remainder of the corridor on Oct 9 so I guess we will see then.

One of the chief things I dislike about Morgan is how the dual station houses almost close off the sidewalks on the East side of Lake St so I'm glad that option wasn't selected here.

There is no need for residential between Lake and Grand IMO. When the PMD is eventually stripped it I'd expect it to be for office and hospitality like the section east of Ogden. Lots of buildable land south of Lake for residential.

I don't know why any agency would construe the ADA to mandate equal access to every entrance and exit. Plenty of buildings have some access points that are only accessible via stairs. The ADA is a good thing, but requiring expensive universal access to every possible means of entrance doesn't seem like it's in the public interest.

I found an old CREATE video from 3 years ago. The video is actually scary how FUBAR'ed up it is down there.
Any news on the 75th flyover mess?


http://www.createprogram.org/projects.htm



• Video Link

The Englewood flyover is done [ completed in 2014 ] but what project is being made currently on the 75th Street Corridor [ considered the worst bottleneck in the entire region ] at this point?

Frees up space for increased intercity passenger rail trains at Chicago Union Station by shifting a growing commuter rail line to another downtown terminal that has spare capacity, eliminates delay for commuters and increases speed and capacity for all trains.

I can't find any ground breaking or news lately on it.


It seems we have a lot to still do to finish CREATE to meet its final solution.


This is the best I could find on the news.




https://www.railwayage.com/mw/create...on-from-usdot/

June 12, 2018 132 million from USDOT

…

The 75th Street CIP will eliminate Belt Junction, one of the most congested rail chokepoints in the region, which sees 32 Metra and Amtrak and 98 CSX, Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern, Canadian Pacific and Belt Railway of Chicago freight trains per day. When complete, it will eliminate 18,500 annual passenger hours of delay by removing conflicts between freight and commuter trains, increase capacity at Chicago Union Station, decrease train idling, improve air quality in the surrounding neighborhoods and replace or rehabilitate 36 viaducts for increased mobility.
To date, 29 out of 70 CREATE projects have been completed, with five more projects under construction and 17 in various stages of design.









…


Man this needs to get done already..... Any movement on it yet? We should follow this as much as some of our buildings. 132 from the fed is a start but this looks like a multi Billion dollar knot to untie. I expect it will take more than 2 years as this Trib article stated.



http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/c...605-story.html

State gets $132 million federal grant to reduce South Side railroad delays

According to IDOT, one of the advantages of the project is that it would connect Metra's SouthWest Service to the Rock Island Line around 74th Street and Normal Avenue, which would allow the service to terminate at the underused LaSalle Street station rather than at clogged Union Station, thus reducing delays and freeing capacity for more intercity rail service.

The project will take two years to finish, according to IDOT. When complete, it will cut 18,500 annual passenger hours of delay, according to CREATE, a public-private effort to increase the efficiency of the passenger and freight rail infrastructure in the nation's busiest railroad hub.
“This is a big win for our region,” Rep. Dan Lipinski, D-Ill., said in a statement.
Construction is expected to start this fall.










http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/c...709-story.html



The timeline on a fully completed CREATE could look make the TARP deep tunnel look quick. Besides both Lipinski's what did Obama do for CREATE when he was around. He had his own transportation secretary from LaHood that IMO could have done a lot more federal dollars on this one instead of the politically failed somewhat faster intercity rail network that got killed in the House or Reps.


Obama really did not throw enough bones $ on this one when he had the chance while still in office IMO.


I found a bit more of it but it still hasn't happened yet


https://www.businessinsider.com/chic...urts-us-2016-7

This spot in Chicago is the epitome of a more than $100 billion problem facing America


In real, economic terms, the Chicago rail hub could potentially affect somewhere between $657 billion and $799 billion annually, according to the same Amtrak study.











According to all news thus far only 1/4 of the billions have been spent yet and likewise only a 1/4 of CREATE is finished.

The $132M Federal grant is adding to another few hundred million coming from AAR (the freight railroads), IDOT, City of Chicago and Metra. Total budget for Phase I (the Forest Hill Flyover and other track work) is $474M, all of which is secured now. The Phase II is currently unfunded.

Unfortunately the way these things work, the engineers can't start seriously designing the thing until the entire funding structure is in place, so there's usually a lag of at least a year or two before construction can begin. Longer if there is land acquisition involved. That's why Obama's famous stimulus package for "shovel-ready" projects didn't deliver much, because projects almost never become shovel-ready until the money is there.

As for CREATE, the overall plan got scaled back quite a bit from the original scheme when Canadian National decided to bail on CREATE and instead purchased the EJ&E Railroad that encircles the city. Multiple projects were designed specifically to assist CN's trains in moving through Chicago faster, but now that issue is moot. CREATE still keeps these projects on their wishlist, though, so a lot of news articles understate the progress.

^It's worth mentioning that CN is about to begin reconstruction of the St. Charles Air Line (the line that runs through the South Loop at 1530 S). They'll be replacing overpasses built for four tracks at Michigan, Wabash, State, Dearborn, and Clark with new single-track spans that don't need any pillars within the street ROW. The centerline of the single remaining track will be moved to the north slightly in order to ease the curves at either end a tiny bit. All bridges except Dearborn will be Cor-Ten steel. The decorative ironwork at Michigan will be saved and—possibly—donated to someone who wants it.

Nothing will be done with the now-unused portion of the ROW, south of the active tracks, and the unused abutments will remain. Officially, that's supposedly because the actual ownership of the SCAL is a partnership, and so BNSF or UP might conceivably have rights to a second track there (the SCAL was never an actual corporation, but just a handshake deal between four of Chicago's earliest railroads). I suspect the real reason is that CN expects to be bought out at market rates if the city ever wants to do a greenway up there, connecting lakefront to riverwalk.

I'm surprised that they are bothering with a reconstruction. I was under the impression that the planned reconfiguration of Grand Crossing would make the SCAL and the tracks adjacent to the Metra Electric line unnecessary.

SCAL....

Absolutely no mention of the possibility of use as an entry point for hsr. Sad.

Why would there be? The state has chosen the Rock Island alignment as the preferred HSR corridor between Chicago and Joliet.

While that would allow Amtrak trains from Champaign to avoid the SCAL, it does nothing to move trains to and from CN's Freeport Sub.

I'm not talking about IDOT improvements, I'm referring more to the Crossrail Chicago concept and the true HSR proposal put forward by the Midwest HSR Assoc. which could be more seriously pursued in the future. Those proposals both use the 16th St SCAL connector to get from the IC row to Union Station.

^Those are just train buff fantasies, not even mentioned in any MPO or government planning documents. Why would a private railroad company make capital investment decisions based on that rather than the actual IDOT study?

With no government funding stream for HSR and (as of yet) no private company pursuing HSR like in Texas or Florida, we won’t see any forward progress anywhere until the politics change.

The SCAL remains a freight corridor, and I’m glad that CN is investing in the corridor rather than abandoning it, whereupon it would quickly become a 606-esque greenway and utterly destroy the chance for passenger service in the future. A freight reconstruction would also hopefully address the dreadful noise and partially silence the South Loop’s calls for abandonment.

Do you have any additional info about this project? I am SCAL-adjacent and find it hard to believe that they could go single track here - I see two trains side by side on a frequent basis. Also, just west of Clark is a junction with Metra lines - are they doing anything about that?

What additional info do you want?

The diamonds where the SCAL crosses the Metra Rock Island will be moved a few feet west in conjunction with relocation of the Rock Island tracks through the Related Midwest land.

We got some more favorable treatment in the NYT, this time on our trains.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/18/n...ta-subway.html

Even though I'd consider our transit rail still significantly behind where it should be in some areas I can understand the contrast to the continuing decline of the NYC system.

Also not mentioned at all is the CTA bus system which, like NYC's, is troubled and beset by falling ridership which remains undressed by the mayor.

^ If anything, New York is the clear leader when it comes to their bus system with the extensive rollout of SBS. Chicago can’t even dream about doing something like that, thanks to Daley’s asinine parking meter deal.

I don't remember seeing this posted before:
https://utc.uic.edu/wp-content/uploa...on-Reduced.pdf

Yes, I envy SBS but their local bus system has the same problems we do. We could implement SBS but it would mean sacrificing travel lanes at least part of the time since it's hard to delete a bunch of parking now.

Major US cities have totally failed to deal with the worsening congestion brought on by population growth and the explosion of for hire vehicles which is helping cripple bus service. I'm hoping that one eventually implements congestion pricing so that the others will follow.

Billion-dollar plan for rail service from Ohio to Chicago could be in place by 2026

The dream of bringing back passenger rail service between Fort Wayne and Chicago, with stops in Valparaiso and Gary, may be closing in on reality.

Consultants hired by a Fort Wayne-based citizens group said a preliminary analysis shows Amtrak service between Lima, Ohio, and Chicago could start between 2026 and 2030 and could carry between 387,000 and 765,000 passengers a year by 2035.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/subur...026-story.html
---

Why the hell would they stop at Lima and not go to Columbus?

that does seem odd, at least on the surface of it.


"gentleman, i propose we build a new passenger rail route to connect chicago, the de facto capital city of the midwest, to columbus, the state capital of ohio with a large metro area of 2M people and home to one of the largest universities in the nation."

"sounds like a solid plan so far, continue."

"but instead of going all the way to colmbus, let's just build the route 75% of the way there and stop it in some random-ass rural town in the middle of nowhere in NW ohio."

"and you lost me."

And it will take 12 years to build!!! That's crazy! The US can't build anything these days. The transcontinental railway was built in 7 years using 1860's tech lol What's the point?

Is this just regular rail? Is there even demand for that?

To Ft Wayne, yeah. To Columbus, probably. To Lima, no.

My car broke down in Lima, OH in 2006. How dare they wait 20 years for this!

I did a rough measurement on Google Earth of what appears to be the shortest extant rail route Chicago -> Valpo -> Ft Wayne -> Lima -> Columbus.

It's about 150 miles to Ft Wayne, just over 200 miles to Lima and just over 300 miles to Columbus.
So about the same distance as St. Louis (but with worse road options... since the freeway route takes you through Indianapolis. Non-HSR should be able to do this in about 5 hours, which, for downtown to downtown, isn't a whole lot more than it would take to fly. If it were brought down to 4 hours (with 110 mph running in the middle of nowhere Indiana/Ohio and perhaps restoring the more direct right of way between Lima and Kenton) I think it would be quite popular.

For years, groups in Indiana and Ohio have been pushing for Chicago - Columbus VIA Lima, not terminating at Lima.
According to this article from the AP, published on US News And World Report's webpage the information largely mirrors the Trib article, save the terminus of the route.

Read the entire article at the link.

The majority of the CHI-COL route is supposed to run on the Chicago, Fort Wayne, and Eastern Railroad, owned by Genesee & Wyoming. The CFE portion of the route ends about 20 miles east of Lima, continuing onto CSX at Dunkirk into Columbus. Perhaps the reporter got the info wrong, believing that the route ended at Lima, not just CFE's portion.

ETA - The Route Alternatives Analysis Report from the Northern Indiana Passenger Rail Assn. mentions that the ultimate goal is Chicago-Columbus, which would, according to their plans, start as Chicago-Fort Wayne, with an extension to Lima, followed at some point to terminate at Columbus.

I hadn't seen Boring and Chicago in the same sentence in a while

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2018/1...completes.html





Boring Company to have $16B value after Chicago Airport completes

brian wang | October 27, 2018




Boring Company will show a two-mile tunnel in LA in December and has started work on an 18 mile tunnel in Chicago from downtown to the airport. Successfully completing the airport tunnel will make the tunneling company worth as much as $16 billion. This valuation will be before any full speed hyperloop implementation.

In June 2018, Boring Company was selected as the contractor for a high-speed downtown-O’Hare transport line. A Berenberg analyst has stated that the Boring Co. could be worth as much as $16 billion if it completes the project.

The $16 billion estimate for the Boring Company’s potential valuation was taken from the figures of the Channel Tunnel project, which connects England and France. This will add to the total valuation of Tesla. The electric car and energy company will be a key supplier for the high-speed transport line.

Tesla would be designing and manufacturing the Boring Company’s pods for the downtown Chicago-O’Hare transport line.

...

If it looks like a scam, swims like a scam, and quacks like a scam, then it probably is a scam

Sounds like there is a challenging ROW situation between Lima and Columbus, but possibly Amtrak could run a connecting bus for that last segment. US-33 is already a freeway, and a lightly-used one, along that corridor. Columbus doesn’t have a rail station anymore either.

Politically it’s a lot easier when most of the route lies in a jurisdiction that is supportive of rail investment. See the Detroit or St Louis lines shooting forward with Michigan and Illinois trackage, while service to Madison is nonexistent and service to Minneapolis is at the bare minimum provided by the federally funded, once a day Empire Builder. Indiana is a conservative state also, but they have at least allowed individual cities and regions to make their own decisions about taxes and transit service.

We will see what happens on Election Day in Ohio, Kasich famously killed the 3C rail plan and DeWine would likely continue Kasich’s policies, while Cordray might be more supportive of rail investment.