Can someone briefly explain what the impied safety difference is between European seating and FRA reg'd seating and whether it's requirement is really neccessary.

Check out some older interior videos and photos of CapMetro's GTWs vs DCTA's GTWs. DCTA's seats meet FRA regulations - CapMetro's did not which they had to ask for an additional waiver for.

Old news article:
https://www.metro-magazine.com/rail/...ive-fra-waiver

And yes, FRA and FTA regulations get that specific even for simple things like seating and flooring.
https://www.federalregister.gov/docu...peed-trainsets


Stadler and DCTA could have followed CapMetro and asked for more waivers, but DCTA wanted as much compliance as possible. Stadler could have preformed specific tests to prove their European standard seats met FRA regulations, but decided on just buying already tested and approved seats made in America instead. So Stadler made a huge investment in finding American vendors for many parts for trains sold to America. While all of DCTA trains were assembled in Europe, Stadler shipped American made parts to its' European plants. These same American vendors allowed Stadler to initiate a new manufacturing plant in Salt Lake City quickly. 60% of each train built in Salt Lake City must be made in America to qualify for "Built in America" Federal funding grants - so there are many American vendors supplying parts for Salt Lake City assembled trains.

I have no idea what the difference in the standards are, I'm like most everyone else, I resist reading books og regulations I do not need to know to do my job. There may not be that much difference in the final product. But I'm certain the testing methods and procedures are different from one nation to another.

Are American regulations necessary? Why not just use European regulations? Why have the United States of America at all? How about eliminating every nation on Earth and form an United Earth? :)

Every nation should have the ability to form its' own laws and safety standards, and set their own procedures to prove they are being met.

There's one of those foundation pier testing rigs set up at the Damen Green Line site right now. Pretty exciting to see progress there, going to make such a difference in the area.

Nice article in the Trib yesterday about Metra’s A2 interlocking. Apparently any new Metra station in Fulton Market will have to wait for a new A-2 flyover to be built first (although honestly Sterling Bay could pay for a temporary wooden platform if they think it’s worthwhile, and the Ventra app eliminates the need for an agent).

The new Fulton Market stop would have platforms on both UP-W and the Milwaukee District lines, so we may end up needing something with multiple platforms and an underpass to link them all together.

We used to think a Metra stop required only a sign nailed to a pole. But then 35th Street demonstrated that, if you concentrate real hard, you can manage to spend $30 million on two ground-level platforms.

Isn't 35th on the embankment?

Yes, requiring two $8000 ramps.

Youre leavin out a hole bunch a stuff. You forgota pay the minority ghost contractor usually fronted by a preacher and politician. Then you got the railroads who need to give their blesssing on any access to the right away, and the brotherhood of engineers want to have a talk and that aint free. And whatta bout the concrete guys to make sure it all arrives on time, i dont know if you're aware of who runs that business but i assure you it aint the boy scouts. Of course you got the fees and permits and inspections to insure the aldermans support and then studies to pay the educated class. It all adds up.

Possibly, if you want a station with side platforms that only certain trains can stop at. The Halsted St station on BNSF is the worst case scenario for this. It’s so useless, I don’t even understand why Metra keeps it around. Seriously it’s a joke. But it was definitely built on the cheap.

However, if you want to build a station that is a true alternate to Union Station serving the growing Fulton office corridor, then you probably need several platforms with safe, accessible ways to move among the platforms and down the street

Lol, add a couple of zeros to that number. There is no way in hell you can build an ADA ramp from street level to the top of a viaduct for $8,000 using union labor. $8,000 is probably what the hand rails each cost just to be fabricated and not even installed. Like honestly, in what world do you think a ramp of that size costs $8,000? That's comical.

Also they had to demolish that little Mies building first which is at least 5 figures in demo just to clear the site. Also you are wayyyyy underselling the ramps, they are a ziggurat like complex of stairs and ramps with 3 or 4 switch backs. But yeah, that costs $8,000...

I don't evenb think the fabrication of hand rails can be done for $8,000. 13 years ago we had very simple, 18-inch parkway fencing made from reused, low-grade steel components for about 100 feet of parkway and they cost about $15,000 before installation.

Metra Chicago Stations
 

https://metrarail.com/about-metra/ne...o-new-stations
Metra gets state funding for two new stations
(April 17, 2019) -
Peterson/Ridge will be highly successful- dense walking area and it is isolated from other rail transit options, yet it is on a major bus route.

Auburn will be a challenge. Its going to be expensive since it is 2 rail levels up from street. StreetView Patrons will have a long climb to board trains. And it is only 1 mile from the Gresham station which averages 300 riders a day. Also it is only .7 miles from the 79th st Redline station.

Of note is that Auburn is going to bear the brunt of the big dig CREATE 75thst Project. Maybe this is a make good project.

Commission approves @ChicagoDOT plan to build a pedestrian bridge at 43rd Street that will span the Metra tracks and Lake Shore Drive and provide access to the Lakefront Trail and Burnham Park.


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D4ck42ZW0AAPgMJ.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D4ck42VXsAMKscX.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D4ck42XWwAAdf5L.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D4ck42WW4AEYyx4.jpg



I'm a bit disappointed they're using the same design as 41st.

New 31st Street Bridge over the Metro/IC tracks, though the picture obviously isn't from 31'st...

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/D4cf90pWAAEHBKf.jpg

Not that much of a challenge. There is already a "mezzanine" type area at 78th and Fielding underneath the tracks. Just gotta spread the tracks apart enough to build a single island platform, with an elevator and a single set of stairs.

https://goo.gl/maps/uaaUTTbPfJdJG7KKA

The platform may require a second means of egress for emergencies, if that's the case then they can add a emergency gate at the north end of the platform with a pedestrian crossing over the northbound track to a stair where there used to be a stair:

https://goo.gl/maps/oT2RepoPMFE4HGab7

Also that neighborhood (Winneconna Parkway) is beautiful, with lagoons and bridges straight out of an Olmsted park. Talk about a hidden gem! Lots of vacant lots though, perhaps with Metra access a developer will be willing to come in and build some SFH and small apartment buildings to fill the neighborhood back out.

It was always the plan since the "Bridging the Drive" competition to use similar designs for the 41st and 43rd bridges.

I wouldn't be surprised if a hefty chunk of that is payment to IIT since apparently Main Building, a historic building btw, got damaged from either the construction or vibrations from it and atleast a while after the station opened people were barred from entering it for safety reasons.

Good to know that the physical access from the street wont be too bad. That bridge over 78th st looks wrecked. Over all the access points will be well north of 79th bus. It is a long walk for transfer and will no doubt be a factor in the ridership.
Surrounding neighborhood is precarious. Abandoned and rundown and empty lots north of 78 st but some newer homes around 79 st.
Metra stop will be a an asset.

But the Metra Rock Island line has some stops just south that are under consideration for closure.

Long term it will be interesting if the "78" development will have a concentration of commercial and office. Then will it have a RI station at 15th street? The addition of a downtown destination for jobs is a boost for the entire southside and especially RI riders.

Groundbreaking started today for new bus lanes in the city. Phase I (Chicago/Ogden/Milwaukee area) is expected to take 8-weeks to finish

City Announces New Bus Speed Initiative, But Will Drivers Respect the New Lanes?
https://i0.wp.com/chi.streetsblog.or...%2C100%2C948px
https://chi.streetsblog.org/2019/04/...the-new-lanes/

The concrete structure at 78th does look bad, but so do lots of concrete structures from that era like the Bloomingdale Line or the Red Line's North Main. It may indicate structural issues, or it may just be cosmetic. Basically just gotta get the drainage under control, so you strip the ballast down to the concrete deck and apply dampproofing. Then you can chip away any loose concrete and either patch the damaged areas or clearcoat them like on the Bloomingdale Line. If there are more serious issues, probably Metra will saw cut the damaged portions and replace them with precast panels, then proceed with the dampproofing. It's possible to do this all at reasonable cost as CTA demonstrated.

As for bus transfers, I'm not sure anyone is looking to transfer from a bus to Metra. The concept released by a neighborhood CDC years ago showed plenty of parking; backers probably imagine most users will drive to the station for an express trip downtown, and somehow this new option will lure the kind of people who would otherwise look in Beverly or the suburbs. People in Auburn can already ride the 79th St bus to the Red Line, but the 79th bus is CTA's busiest route and I have to imagine it's got cattle-car conditions. At least it's getting some improvements to speed it up, per the previous post.

To be honest I kind of agree that this will end up underperforming like Gresham or the various stations on the Metra Electric. The Red Line already offers a quicker alternative for transit riders from Auburn, and I don't think the addition of Metra service will improve the perception of the neighborhood much among homebuyers. I hope I'm wrong. If you drill down it really just seems like people in this neighborhood are demanding the station on equity grounds even if there's no transit planning case for the station.

^Exactly. This station will probably open not meeting Metra's new criteria for keeping stations.

North Michigan is where bus lanes are needed most IMO. You can walk faster than the buses between the river and Chicago Ave.

I still fantasize about a bus tunnel, similar to Seattle’s (though they just made theirs exclusive to light rail) under Michigan Ave from Oak Street to the river.

I just wanted to mention how awesome the Green Line is now with the new infill stations.
I haven’t been to McCormick in a few years, and last time was the auto show with my dad, so we drove.
For the trade show I went to this month, I realized I now could take the Green straight from Ogilvie to Cermak. Of course, I went sightseeing and got on at Morgan, but even on a cold rainy November day I would walk to Clinton and the easy 6 blocks to McCormick.

Only paid $20 for both Metra and CTA, which is cheaper than parking, tolls and gas. Thanks CTA for a fun ride.
P.S., it makes me much more excited to go to McCormick shows because I don’t have to drive and can spend those two hours productively.

The worst is when you are waiting for the bus. Sometimes, you can see the bus just a few blocks away, and you still have to wait like 5 minutes for the bus to get to you, sometimes in the extreme Chicago cold.

79th station is is about the same distance from the Red Line as Peterson/Ridge. 79th is also the busiest bus route in the city with more than six times the ridership of the 84 on Peterson. Admittedly the immediate area around the station is not as dense but a half mile or so west it is pretty dense (which is why 79th has such high ridership.) If they coordinated fares between Metra and CTA to eliminate or reduce the transfer penalty, it would probably be a very busy station.

And, with a little jog East, they could hook it up to the little-known Bus lane (used only for conventions, I think) that whisks you right down to McCormick Place.

Both of those Metra stations should provide a nice time savings getting into the Loop and relieve some rush hour Red Line congestion. For everyone who lives up at Peterson, jobs in the West Loop will be so much closer, probably won't even need to transfer to the CTA, just walk 10 minutes west.

Good use of existing infrastructure.

I've wanted this for ages, too. There's already a Lower Michigan to Grand, so it only needs to be extended about half a mile. In conjunction with that, a Lower Chicago Ave between, say, Orleans and Fairbanks would also dramatically reduce 66/Chicago bus travel times between the Blue Line, Michigan Ave, and Navy Pier, and really enable turning 66/Chicago into BRT service. With the existing growth near Chicago/Milwaukee, and the planned growth at Chicago/River, it would really make commuting to the Mag Mile much easier/faster, and dramatically help surface congestion and/or enable some creative streetscapes east of Franklin.

Creating a Lower Michigan to Oak Street would be very disruptive to the businesses there, but the long-term benefit would be huge, especially since it really could improve travel times between the West Loop train stations and the Mag Mile and enable some creative bus routings with Lower Wacker and/or a new Carol Street transit way.

I'd guess doing that to Michigan would cost double the reconstruction of Wacker, at worst, and take about the same timeframe.

Hiawatha expansion
 

Awesome to see Wisconsin pushing aggressively to expand this corridor service to 10 RT per day/.

Evers wants to expand Amtrak’s Milwaukee to Chicago Hiawatha service
WisDOT reports record calendar year ridership for service

Great news

What a difference an election makes.

Now if they could get some new dedicated trainsets (see Siemens Brightline) with a sweet orange paint scheme homage to the Milw Road...

Illinois is part of the California led coalition for new corridor rail eqpt. Also Wi, MO, MI. (IN rejected participation in the coalition and is not eligible for the equipment)

28 new Siemens Charger locomotives have been delivered. 23 are in service.

88 single level rail cars are in advanced design/testing. Due to begin delivery end of 2020.

Aashto hsr

Hopefully they eventually start running a couple a day to Madison and Green Bay.

If they wanted to expand service, Wisconsin could probably buy a few of the 100 Charger locos that Amtrak still has an option to purchase, over and above the 75 they've already ordered. Those 75 won't be fully delivered until 2024.

Not sure whether Caltrans/IDOT still has an open option on any Viaggio coaches or not.

This route currently doesn't run with motive power on both ends. I'd like to see some of those new cab cars like Caltrans ordered (but IDOT declined) on the Hiawatha. Easy way to add a little capacity. Plus there is no need for Business Class or a full cafe car, as this is really just a glorified commuter route.

ETA - perhaps as the Midwest coalition starts to get their new Viaggios, they can temporarily repurpose the Amfleet cars that Illinois paid to have rehabbed for the Lincoln Service for use on the Hiawatha, and permanently retire those god-awful Horizons.

Here's a shot of a Milwaukee Road Hiawatha with mid-1950's livery-
https://i.imgur.com/MAj9aQs.jpg
img src - wikimedia

Considering that Walker handed back $810 million to the feds that was earmarked for a Milwaukee-Madison route (which would have led to more and better service to Minneapolis-St. Paul), it'll be hell getting them to hand anything back to Evers (and pretty much impossible with the current administration in DC). I believe there are still unused Talgo trainsets sitting at Beech Grove from the last fiasco.

Speaking of Beech Grove, now that Amtrak's Hoosier State is in serious jeopardy of disappearing after June 30, all of a sudden some in Indiana are realizing that they may lose as many as 500 jobs, if all the work at the Beech Grove shops is moved elsewhere, as a result of the route being discontinued.

Amtrak uses the Hoosier State as a shuttle to send rolling stock requiring service to Beech Grove.

Indiana only spends $2.5 million in operating subsidies to keep the train running 4 days a week (with an additional $500,000 coming from Lafayette, Crawfordsville, and Rensselaer). Considering the terrible deal the state made with Carrier to save jobs that actually won't be staying, $2.5 million seems like a hell of a bargain.

Now that we have a new governor I wonder if IDOT is going to make a decision on the Glenview holding track soonish and cause the village to incinerate a small fortune futilely opposing it.

I wonder if the Glenview skirmish would be less an issue if Metra was electrified on that corridor and not belching squealling diesel locomotives?

Never underestimate the intensity of ideological derangement present in the Indiana republican statehouse.

I doubt it.

While I'm sure there are a few people at INDOT who genuinely wanted the Hoosier State to succeed, the State of Indiana long ago decided that the slow, agonizing failure of intercity passenger rail was the whole purpose of running the train.

They made sure that those paying any attention would bear witness to what an utter disaster the Hoosier State was, in an attempt to forever squash anyone who had the audacity of envisioning a transportation project not made of asphalt.

They should let NICTD run it...

City breaks ground on new Damen Green Line station, opening date slips to 2021
https://chicago.curbed.com/2018/7/9/...p-perkins-will

A shame this station is taking this long, it should have been well underway by now. Whole skyscrapers get from concept to groundbreaking in less than two years.

Not quite electrification, but one of the options under study was to upgrade UP's entire New Line to shift virtually all freight trains off the Hiawatha/Metra corridor south of the Wisconsin state line. UP was even supportive, since it's basically a handout to them. The New Line was built in 1903 specifically so that C&NW could run fast passenger service up their lakefront corridor (today's UP-N line).

Potentially the New Line upgrade could enable electrification on the Hiawatha corridor down the road, especially since Metra already owns the corridor up to Rondout.

The Glenview holding track was the cheaper option at 1/4 to 1/3 of the cost, but it only narrowly serves the needs of the Hiawatha expansion plan without any provisions for further growth of passenger service along the corridor. Unfortunately the New Line plan requires running freight trains through the backyards of plutocrats in Lake Forest, so I suspect it was quietly removed from consideration.

This was probably shared before, I’m sharing it again.
The World’s Best Urban Gondola Ride

What I learned from traveling every inch of the L in one day
https://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-M...Chicago/The-L/

I was at a Metra meeting last week where Jim Derwinski mentioned Metra's interest in providing O'Hare express service. That's one of the rationales for doing a flyover rather than cheaper short-term solutions at A-2.

He noted that O'Hare Express has disappeared from Elon Musk's (presumably The Boring Co.) webpage.

Will they rebuild the current O'Hare connection station next to the rental car facility?

I walked around the garage a few months ago. I guess they could rebuild the platforms and a better Metra waiting room, but there's not a great way to improve the Metra->APM connection itself. There's not really a path through the garage at all, the best option is just to build an enclosed walkway from the Metra platforms to the rental car lobby and the escalators up to the people mover. For a little more money, they could invest in a 2nd-floor skyway that wraps around the garage and provides a grade-separated bridge over the Metra tracks but the path will still be long and indirect like the Midway Orange Line connection.

Any mainline rail solution is going to have very limited appeal unless officials decide to invest in a tunnel under the airfield to the terminal area. We don't really know what Metra is planning for O'Hare service, but if they think they can operate an indirect connection like Newark has, they're setting themselves up for failure. The Blue Line already exists and provides a better option for most O'Hare-bound travelers directly from multiple stations downtown directly to the terminal area.

Good to hear; Derwinski seems like a slight step up from previous generations of Metra leaders, although Metra as an organization is still a 1950s dinosaur and every Chicagoan is paying the price.

It still makes me mad that the powers that be almost seemed to go out of their way not to build a relatively easy connection that would have incorporated the ATS system and a link to the Metra/NCS station. We are talking a matter of a few hundred feet and just literally plotting the station down on the south or north side of the rental car building instead of the west side. Just seems so shortsighted even if there wasn't immediate plans for increased or express service using that line.

I didn't think so before but it probably will just be best in the future from a cost and time perspective to use the MD-W route and split off at the rail line at York and have a new station as part of the new employee people mover connecting the new island termianls and new T2.