^ I woulda thought this would be a continuation of the up-nw past Harvard?

I don't think anybody has a firm plan for this, they're just looking at a map and drawing lines. Metra doesn't have the budget to run service into Kendall County, let alone other counties or states that are outside the Chicago MSA.

So far nobody has figured out politically how to do this. Kendall County and Boone/Winnebago don't want to pay the sales tax required to join RTA, but it's not fair to the existing RTA counties if those other areas get train service free of charge.

This is nice to complement the big TOD buildings going up, but... that tribal pattern is not great. I appreciate the desire to have some African heritage, but there are so many better ways to do it! Even within the station, it would look better on the elevator towers.

That’s the beauty of Rock County though, if they want in and pay for it, there is hardly any running through the free rider territory. With hybrid work in some form here to stay, this is a really unique opportunity to reimagine what service Metra actually provides. If not so crush loaded at peak times, this service can spread out through the day and longer runs can be implemented. Commuters will always be the backbone, but I’m really glad to see Metra being discussed as a true regional railroad system. It would also be good to not have to rely on Amtrak’s procurement of equipment which can be held up in budget disputes in Washington. If there is an appetite to grow, manage and fund a regional passenger rail network locally, then we should capitalize on it as much as possible.

The RTA Act is a creation of Illinois, Rock County can't join. Ideally they could set up a countywide taxing district to raise funds and do purchase-of-service with Metra (like the City of Kenosha does), but the Wisconsin legislature has put up various legal roadblocks to prevent rail expansion.

Even if they could somehow come up with the funds to operate service, the capital costs would kill them - the cost of upgrading tracks, building stations and storage yards, and buying extra trains to support the new service. Not to mention any upgrades that might be required in the Chicago area to deal with the increased rail congestion.

This seems like pretty massive news:

New Transcontinental Rail Route Announced Through Chicago

https://chicagoyimby.com/2023/04/new...h-chicago.html

Beat me to it.

Although I was going to put this in the economic thread as it really doesn't have direct implications for city/metro transit, no?

Yeah that makes sense, post it there too, spread the word! :)

It does potentially, since the "Falcon Premium" trains will be traveling on the NCS and Heritage Corridor lines. Those have poor service to begin with, possibly even worse after this.

The trains would likely use the EJ&E to avoid congestion in the Chicago terminal, so that could mean a lot more freight trains through certain suburbs and a lot more idling of freight trains in forest preserves or residential areas.

That said, I'm not sure this is "big news" the way it's made out to be. This is likely just something to keep the shareholders from panicking about CPKC, I'm not sure it will have a huge impact on ops.

Crain's is reporting that the Kennedy construction and increased train frequencies has resulted in ridership increase for many Metra lines. For weekday numbers, UP-N is now 71% of pre-pandemic, UP-NW is 65%, MD-N is 60%, and NCS is 53%. Amazing what happens when car use is discouraged and rail frequency is increased

https://www.chicagobusiness.com/tran...y-construction

Great news, lets just take the whole thing down instead :D...or at least take out a lane each way.

Hear hear!

I did check some info regarding the Silver Line Phase 2 in DC, and the total cost for a new station is about 700 million USD. Taking into consideration your comment, I guess it makes sense for this to cost 1/7 of that. Thanks for the feedback, hope the final result is as expected.

My proposed reshuffling of the Amtrak network in Chicago + my future rail services

Millennium Station – Electric East Division : High Speed Rail & Regional Rail

• 220mph High Speed Line : Chicago – Champaign – Springfield – St. Louis
• 220mph High Speed Line : Chicago – Fort Wayne – Toledo – Detroit
• 220mph High Speed Line : Chicago – Indianapolis – Louisville – Nashville
• 220mph High Speed Line : Chicago – Fort Wayne – Toledo - Cleveland
• Metra Electric Main Line : Chicago – University Park – Kankakee
• Metra Electric Blue Island Branch
• Metra Electric South Chicago Branch
• South Shore Line : Chicago – Gary – Michigan City – South Bend – Elkhart – Goshen
• West Lake Corridor : Chicago – Hammond – Dyer – St. John
• Calumet Corridor : Chicago – East Chicago – Hobart – Valparaiso

Lasalle Street Station – Eastern Diesel / Hybrid shared Corridor & Long Distance Services

• Metra Rock Island District
• Amtrak 3 Rivers: Chicago – Fort Wayne – Youngstown – Pittsburgh – New York – 1x daily
• Amtrak Nickle plate limited : Chicago - Fort Wayne - Cleveland - Erie - Buffalo - 3x daily (local stops along HSR line)
• Amtrak Southern Tier Ltd: Chicago – South Bend - Toledo - Cleveland - Erie – Binghamton – Scranton – Hoboken -1x daily
• Amtrak International : Chicago – Ann Arbor – Detroit – London – Toronto – 2x daily
• Amtrak City of New Orleans : Chicago – Memphis – Jackson – New Orleans – 1x daily
• Amtrak Illini and Saluki : Chicago – Kankakee – Champaign - Carbondale – 4x daily
• Amtrak Floridan : Chicago – Indianapolis – Nashville – Orlando – Miami – 1x daily
• Amtrak Cardinal : Chicago – Indianapolis – Cincinnati – Charlottesville – DC – NY – 1x daily
• Amtrak Lake Shore Limited : Chicago – Cleveland – Buffalo – Albany – New York – 1x daily
• Amtrak Capitol Limited : Chicago – Cleveland – Pittsburgh – DC – 1x daily
• Amtrak Wolverine : Chicago – Kalamazoo – Battle Creek – Detroit – Pontaic – 6x daily
• Amtrak Blue Water : Chicago – Battle Creek – Flint – Port Huron – 4x daily
• Amtrak Pere Marquette : Chicago – St. Joesph – Holland – Grand Rapids – 3x daily
• Amtrak Hoosier State : Chicago-Lafayette-Indianapolis-Cincinnati – 4x daily
• Amtrak Mountaineer : Chicago - Cincinnati - Roanoke - Petersburg - Norfolk - 1x daily

Ogilvie Transportation Center - High Speed Rail – Regional & Corridor Intercity Rail Services

• 220mph High Speed Line : Chicago – Milwaukee – Madison – La Crosse – Rochester – St. Paul
• Metra Union Pacific North Line : Chicago - Ravenswood - Evanston - Waukegan - Kenosha - Racine - Milwaukee
• Metra Union Pacific West Line : Chicago - River Forest - Geneva - Elburn
• Metra Union Pacific Northwest Line : Chicago - Park Ridge - Barrington - Gary - Crystal Lake - Harvard
• Metra Union Pacific Northwest Line : Chicago - Park Ridge - Gary - McHenry - Johnsburg - Genoa City - Lake Geneva

Chicago Union Station – Regional & Corridor Intercity Rail Services

• Metra BNSF Line : Chicago – La Grange – Naperville – Aurora
• Metra Milwaukee District West Line : Chicago – Franklin Park – Roselle – Elgin
• Metra Milwaukee District North Line : Chicago – Glenview – Deer Field – Fox Lake
• Metra North Central Line : Chicago – O’ Hare – Prairie Crossing – Antioch
• Metra Heritage Corridor : Chicago – Summit – Joilet
• Metra Southwest Service : Chicago – Oak Lawn – Manhattan
• Metra CrossRail : O’Hare Airport – Union Station – Hyde Park
• Amtrak Hiawatha : Chicago – Milwaukee – 10x daily (local stops along HSR line) , + Appleton - Green Bay - 4x daily
• Amtrak Southern Superior : Chicago - Milwaukee - Green Bay - Escanaba - Marquette - 1x daily
• Amtrak Southern Superior : Chicago - Milwaukee - Green Bay - Escanaba - Sault Ste Marie - 1x daily
• Amtrak North Star - Chicago – Milwaukee-Appleton-Superior-Duluth -1x overnight with morning arrival
• Amtrak Lake Country Limited : Madison – Janesville – Rockford – Chicago – 3x daily
• Amtrak Quad Cities : Omaha – Des Moines -Iowa City – Davenport – Chicago – 4x daily
• Amtrak Black Hawk : Waterloo – Dubuque – Rockford – Chicago – 3x daily
• Amtrak Peoria Rocket : Springfield – Peoria – Ottawa – Joilet – Chicago – 3x daily
• Amtrak Illinois Zephyr and Carl Sandburg : Chicago – Quincy – Hannibal – 4x daily
• Amtrak Lincoln : Chicago - Joliet - Bloomington - Springfield -> shared HSR to St. Louis - 6x daily


Chicago Union Station – Long Distance Services

• Amtrak Empire Builder : Chicago – Milwaukee – St Paul – Spokane – Portland – 1x daily
• Amtrak North Coast Hiawatha : Chicago – St Paul – Missoula – Spokane – Seattle – 1x daily
• Amtrak California Zephyr : Chicago – Omaha – Denver – SLC – SAC – Emeryville – 1x daily
• Amtrak Southwest Chief : Chicago – Kansas City - Albuquerque – Los Angeles – 1x daily
• Amtrak Lone Star : Chicago – Kansas City – Newtown - Wichita - Oklahoma City – Fort Worth – 1x daily
• Amtrak Inter-American : Chicago – St Louis – Dallas – San Antonio – Laredo – 1x daily
• Amtrak Texas Eagle: Chicago – St Louis – Dallas – Austin – San Antonio – 1x daily

Looks like the 7000 series may already be on the way out. Not one of Rahm's best decisions. But I guess contracting with the Chinese was all in-fashion back then.

https://www.transitchicago.com/duckw...r-replacement/

I'm not sure this means the CRRC 7000 series contract is being cancelled - unless I'm missing something. Regardless, I hope the 9000 series will be the moment the Cta breaks out of this amber it's been locked in and orders a really forward looking car - and not just a nearly identical recycled body style with a half-assed update to the bonnet like the 7000 series. The original 7000 renderings looked promising, if a little conservative, but the production design just kind of fell flat and even managed to seem even clumsier IMO. I know US transit agencies are super conservative when it comes to rolling stock - both in materials spec'd like the ubiquitous stainless steel as well as body styling that seems to avoid forward looking industrial design at all costs. This is changing, but it's changing very slowly. MARTA is getting some nice looking new cars from Stadler, even though I am a huge fan of the classic 1970s futurism look of the original Belgian rolling stock. But even NYC which made an attempt at a sleek crowd pleaser of a car that wasn't as embarrassing when compared to foreign counterparts, still ultimately looks like the same train carriage of the last 30, 40, 50 years with a value engineered bonnet grafted on the front. And don't even get me going on the foot dragging over open gangways. Yes, they've finally got some prototypes but it's still totally unknown if they are going to modify and contracts for the R-211 to pull the trigger on open gangways like the rest of the planet already did like 30 years ago.

I believe the base order for the 7000s is 400 cars, with the option to purchase 446 additional cars. It's possible those additional cars won't be ordered and instead replaced with the 9000s.

^^Yeah, that's probably it. Hopefully, they actually hit it out of the park with the 9000 series.

Completely agree that the dated American subway car look needs to go. I know the appearance doesn't actually effect service but if you're going to be investing in modernization, send that visual message to your users. I was actually in disbelief when I first saw the Silverliner Vs running in Denver. A city with such a progressive image, investing heavily in electrified heavy rail transit, and they buy trains that look like they're in an early '80s movie in New York (yes I know they just piggybacked on SEPTA, which is equally guilty). I'm excited for MARTA's cars as well but I wish they had exterior doors rather than the pocket doors that greatly reduce window area. Cleveland going with Siemens S200s for the red line was a great decision.

I think I remember literally being sick to my stomach over that.

Though I can't remember if those were ordered pre or post-FRA waiver.

I'm just realizing that these routes might have some of the highest ridership recovering of any transit line in the country!

Is that the terminal station at Dulles?

Who in the hell is getting paid? No wonder we can't help more nice things in this country. Isn't that a higher cost than the Obama Libabry is going to be?

Yeah, $700M for the core/shell of Obama library. but that does not include the cost of building out the interior exhibits and collections ($90M) or all the infrastructure going on around it. All told, it's likely they will spend more than $1B in Jackson Park.

The bid tab for the Van Buren project shows they only got one bid, from FH Paschen. Other Metra Electric station projects had 4-5 bids. So basically everyone took a pass on this project because it was too risky, and the one GC who did submit a bid just decided to price in all the risk.

Rundown of projects Metra has planned for the Rock Island District, unfortunately electrification isn't one of them. The Root St connection seems interesting though:
https://i.imgur.com/ZrDctCMh.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/bt6eReHh.jpg
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2023/5/...ter-train-line

HSR Alliance updated their map for the proposed track layout. It looks like the ramp will FINALLY be 2 tracks, and they'll properly refurbish the SCAL bridge. There's now a potential "flyover" the RID, additional interchanges to the MED, and a smaller Amtrak yard. All these extra features are probably why Amtrak increased their funding request for the project.

New Layout:
https://i.imgur.com/rDRJlVtl.jpg

Old Layout:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FkcjeFhX...png&name=small
https://www.hsrail.org/chicago-hub-improvement-program/

I could be wrong (I hope I am) but I think the private HSRA is conflating the actual Amtrak grant request with their wishlist for CrossRail Chicago.

For example the new track connections shown in the diagram between the SCAL and Metra Electric around McCormick Place have no value for Amtrak under current service patterns.

CTA to Kick Off Final Major Phase of Lawrence to Bryn Mawr Modernization Project

https://www.railwayage.com/passenger...RAchannel=news

https://www.railwayage.com/wp-conten...1.33.14-AM.png

^^Another article, this one from Urbanize, about the same work (with more pics too):

https://chicago.urbanize.city/post/c...rt-final-phase

Due to the Kennedy closure, ridership recovery on all three Union Pacific lines have passed all other Metra lines. UP-N now has 66% of it's pre-pandemic weekday ridership, probably one of the best recoveries in the country. MED still dominates on the weekends, with over 110% of pre-pandemic ridership

Report: https://metra.com/sites/default/file...nds%20Memo.pdf

Obviously boosted by TSwift, but still good news to see.....

https://chi.streetsblog.org/2023/06/...ince-covid-hit

This is going to be a shit show

https://twitter.com/LynnBecker/statu...20774322569216

Affected routes: https://www.transitchicago.com/ditch...d-festivities/

^ they have to shut down those bus lines for 9 days to host a 3 hour street race?

The math here seems fucked.

If true, let's hope this nascar in Chicago nonsense is a one and done.

It looks like mainly the south side bus routes are affected + the 126, since they travel over part of the race course (Columbus, Balbo, Michigan south of Jackson).

The changes to north side and west side bus routes are limited to the 3 day race weekend only. I still don't understand why, since none of them actually cross the race course. Possibly the city is worried about 2nd-order effects when thousands of drivers are blocked from LSD, Columbus and Michigan all at the same time, so they are trying to keep the center of the Loop open for cars. :yuck:

Unfortunately the NASCAR race is a 3-year deal. I assume it can be mutually canceled if the first one is a disaster. I'm not sure how much money NASCAR is making off this event, or if they are just writing it off as a colossal marketing expense for the franchise.

I think this has more to do with safety than anything. . . better to shut down the bus routes in the Loop out of an abundance of caution for emergency vehicles. . .

. . .

I think it will be cool, but they really should have increased the size of the course. Not this figure 8 configuration. Should have gone further north on LSD to either Monroe if you need it to get back to Columbus or Randolph back to Michigan Ave.

I am still trying to understand WHY this type of race needs to be in downtown Chicago in the first place, especially considering how a busy downtown area is not at all conducive to racing.

Formula One at least makes sense as a concept. Think Monaco. But NASCAR on downtown city streets? Clotaire says that's about as off code as you can get.

It doesn't need to be in DT Chicago anymore than it "needs" to be at Daytona.

How could Greyhound station sale affect riders?
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2023/6/...ion-department

I have a working theory that the Greyhound system is a conduit for the movement of heroin and other hard drugs throughout the country. . . but I'm sure I'm also not the first person to think about that. . .

. . .

I don't know about trafficking illicit drugs but I know they were good for shipping furniture until the service was ended last year.

I'm visiting Chicago in a couple of weeks and will be flying into O'Hare (landing around 5pm) and staying in the loop. As locals... would you suggest taking the Blue Line to Washington and then walking 1/2 a mile to the hotel, or would you suggest going with Uber? Thanks!

I take the Blue Line all of the time and haven't had any issues. If anything, I feel like it's gotten better over the last few months, but that's my own experience.

I dont ride the blue line as regular as I used to but yeah, makes sense if you're arriving at that time to take the blue line.

Metra's updating and simplifying their zone fare structure. Seems sensible:

https://www.trains.com/trn/news-revi...are-structure/


Current:

https://global.discourse-cdn.com/bus...67a677456.jpeg
___


Proposed:

https://global.discourse-cdn.com/bus...3149eb1ea.jpeg
___

Agreed... this is a big step for regional rail trips. Now they just need to end all their other terrible low-level practices (hostility to bikes, keeping whole railcars closed off, idling diesels in the downtown terminals, etc).

And of course plan for the big stuff too: more frequent trains, better rolling stock/multiple units, electrification, high-level platforms, through-running.

It does feel like Metra is finally taking baby steps in the right direction of regional rail. But the fiscal cliff is still looming and zero plan from the state to deal with it.

^ Are there any plans to electrify Metra?

There's plenty of examples of street circuits (Melbourne, Baku, Monte Carlo, Montreal, Jeddah, Las Vegas, Singapore, Miami). It would be a good thing for Chicago to increase its global clout. I agree with Busy Bee that it should've been F1 not NASCAR though, as it's far bigger on the international stage.

Shots like this would be epic.

• Video Link

• Video Link

Not seriously.

There has been some chatter about how ideal the RI line would be for electrification but no serious movement or announcements. Consider the agency here, I mean its amazing there not still using steam.

Since we're on the subject here with Metra I have to say I cannot stand the ridiculous nomenclature they have for the system. In an effort to streamline and at the very least appear more comparable to other international systems I've been obsessed over the years with instituting a simple alphabet naming system. The logic they use, or don't use, where a bunch of lines are named after the host freight railroad, or the host freight railroad paired with another direction to distinguish it from another line, in some cases a host freight railroad that longer exists and then some lines are just randomly named like "Heritage Corridor" (I mean WTF?) or based on geography like NCS or SWS. Then you have a line that's named after it's mode of propulsion instead of IC.

:facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm:

It's so horrible.


Imagine the system map here below, in the service order shown and keeping the line color intact, but instead just using an A-K alphabet in round route bullets:

https://www.railwayage.com/wp-conten...p-1024x886.jpg
___


Just by delightful happenstance, you have the "Heritage Corridor" (I mean seriously WTF?) given an (H), Rock Island given an (I) (I know I know possibly problematic and wisely avoidable considering I looks like a 1, but it would work fine if a serif letter typeface was used) and Metra Electric a (K)... a (K)!!! How perfect is that? ME branch services could be designated K1, K2, K3 with a smaller number tucked into the circle or just (K) (L) and (M).

I think this was partly because of the effort to make RI the new mainline for St Louis trains instead of HC.

RI has a much denser schedule of commuter trains than HC does, and since Amtrak is nonstop while Metra makes all the stops, that means Amtrak will either need to crawl behind Metra trains or overtake them with a new 3rd/4th track. Another, outside-the-box option is to electrify to increase the average speed of Metra trains without cutting station stops, since electric trains have far better performance/acceleration than diesel. This is how Amtrak coexists with MBTA commuter trains in the Boston area.

I'm guessing they decided to go with the overtake idea instead. A 3rd track is planned between 75th St and 16th St, and the Beverly Branch can also be used as an overtake. If they extend the 3rd track between 75th and 87th, that should provide all the overtake room they need.