All of the subway tunnels will have 4G access by the end of the year:
http://chicagoist.com/2015/10/16/aft...r_years_to.php

Soooo, I did't know transit agencies could make bets with each other

CTA Bets on NLCS With New York's MTA, While Mayor's Bet Awaits Response
http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20151...waits-response

It'd be more fun if the bet was lopsided - if the Mets win, the CTA has to run some Mets cars, if the Cubs win the MTA has to build the Clinton Street subway for Chicago ...

I wouldn't have the MTA build me anything. It's likely you won't live long enough to see it finished.

Yeah, but barring some sort of magical federal program to fund and build a bunch of transit in the US, I don't think I'll live long enough to see a Clinton Street subway anyway and at least it'd get built eventually, lol.

Speaking of Union Station, anybody go to the Open House event there?

They just renovated the former Men's Waiting Room into, well, a premium traveler lounge called the Legacy Club. With the exception of the fabulously ornate ceiling the decor is kind of like a watered down Marriott. It's good to see the space back in use though. There is an old barber shop off to the side that was also preserved.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bOUtwKvK9i...erior-nice.jpghttps://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8830/1...a50d4f5b_z.jpg

The former Ladies' Waiting Room is almost entirely intact, and Amtrak plans to renovate it for event rental space starting next Spring.

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--ExB1FzSDE...finstegink.jpg

Unfortunately, the much larger cafeteria/Fred Harvey space burned completely. It may become a food emporium.

Previous:
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bbNfDtSuph...hroomphoto.jpg

Today:
https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5446/1...1b404e18_z.jpg

Cool update on Wilson Reconstruction...

Looks like the steel structure is largely in place for Tracks 1 and 2.

• Video Link

http://i62.tinypic.com/25so5zs.jpg

Metra gets a share of Tiger VII
 

RTS

Well its not much but Elgin will get a new double track rail bridge.

$14 million to the Chicago area's Metra to replace an existing rail bridge over the Fox River. A new double track bridge is expected to eliminate the bottleneck between freight rail and Metra’s Milwaukee District – West Line while upgrading technology that will allow for Positive Train Control (PTC) compliance.

Meanwhile our friends up north get some seed money for their streetcar.

$14.2 million to the city of Milwaukee, Wis., to build the Milwaukee Streetcar's Lakefront Line to connect Cathedral Square to the lakefront. The funds will build the line and purchase a single streetcar vehicle, as well as build a second track on St. Paul Avenue between North 2nd and 5th Streets.

Union Station Transit Center
 

October 26, 2015

Illinois Medical District Station: Ogden Stationhouse Renovation

Found these in a CTA presentation... I know CTA had a semi-competition for this station, I believe this is the winning scheme to renovate and provide an elevator down to the platform.

They're keeping the existing steel canopy on the platform to save money, but putting transparent materials on the roof and installing new architectural lighting. Looks like they also might put in some kind of trees and hedges on the far side of the tracks to buffer the platform from traffic.

http://i63.tinypic.com/2vttl3t.jpg

http://i65.tinypic.com/n1fbeg.jpg

well, the el system is once again complete. the yellow line has officially reopened after a nearly 6 month shut-down due to the accidental embankment collapse.

all 12 of the yellow line's daily riders rejoiced. :D

In a surprise to nobody who uses it the EPA finds the air in Union Station and it's platforms is still really really bad. Somebody needs to tell Metra to either add emissions controls/AESS to all F40 rebuilds or buy new locomotives and Amtrak for it's part needs to start standing on necks to get all the ventilation working (and augment it if required).



http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/w...105-story.html

Ah, good reporting there, mentioning the legal limit and the actual values at different locations. I'd heard of this study, but the EPA's own article on it was so entirely devoid of context as to be meaningless. They said "The concentration of PM2.5 in air on the train platforms was 23 - 96 percent higher than concentrations recorded on nearby streets", while failing to mention that there even was a legal limit let alone that even those nearby streets were exceeding it!


I think it makes sense to prioritize improving ventilation in the very short term. But unless they filter their exhaust, that will just blow more smoke onto nearby streets that are already beyond the exposure limit for fine particulates.

I'd really like to see Metra move towards using hybrid locomotives, like New York uses for GCT and Penn Station where diesels are not allowed to run. I think they use third rails there, but a battery-hybrid system might work better in Chicago given the relatively short tunnels and the number of progress in that area of technology.

As I understand it, Metra's engines already use electric traction motors powered by generators turned by their diesel engines, so I would hope that adding a bank of batteries would be feasible. I'd hope that a battery system would pay for itself in fuel savings by eliminating waste when idling or coasting or running the engine outside of it's ideal rpm when accelerating. And simply not running the diesel in or near the station would help with particulates, both for the station and the surrounding neighborhood.

edit: This bit from the article sounds promising: "They also secured federal funding to equip locomotives with technology that automatically powers down the engines inside Chicago's downtown stations."

Union needs a full gut rehab, an interior connection to ogilvie, and an interior connection to the el

Sounds like an idea I had several years ago, I forwarded this to Metra's Planning Dept., but I have heard nothing back: http://regenerativehybridunit.yolasite.com/

Might be sooner than you think.

Congress just approved a new transportation bill where Union Station qualifies for up to $1B in low-interest loans, secured by rent or other revenue from private development in or on top of the station.

Not sure they will ask for $1B given the revenue potential, but that will easily fund the renovation of the concourse and platforms.

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/artic...ortation-money

The Sun Times mentions that in their article about the transportation bill and that "over five years, the increases could amount to roughly $1.497 billion to the CTA and $880 million to Metra, preliminary estimates from U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski’s office indicated"

http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/7/7...l-transit-bill

Look for the CTA to waste it on the Red Line extension.

My preference would be the Western Ave BRT or better yet, Metra CTA and Amtrak pool money for the West Loop Transit project.

Wow! I didn't hear this. What happened? What's going on there? Why they shutdown for nearly 6 months?

It will almost certain go toward the RPM project - Red Purple Modernization, which is essentially the reconstruction of the tracks between Belmont and Linden which will include extension of platforms to enable 10-car trains and a flyover at Belmont for the Brown Line to enable increased frequency. Those two changes together will increase capacityon the north Red Line, which is currently at or exceeding max capacity, by nearly 50%. Because of that capacity increase, it is even eligible for New Starts funding.

The Water district was doing a project which caused the collapse of a barrier that was supporting the track embankment.

Doubtful. Depending on how you slice it, the new superstation at 95th is an implicit admission by Emanuel that the extension is either dead or demoted to a very low priority.

RPM and Blue Line Forest Park Renewal are almost certainly the big-ticket projects in CTA's near-term future. Maybe Ashland or Western BRT.

Chicago's public transu
 

Chicago's public transit ranks 6th among U.S. cities, new ranking shows
 

The RLE priced itself out of feasibility (what is it up to now -- $3 Billion?); and just to show you how they really DON'T give a Flying F about "improving service to the Far South Side", since they can't have their certified Gold Plated Toilet Seat RLE -- they won't/don't look at ANY alternative in it's place!

TOO BAD for the Far South Side ("We were just using you to generate Obscene Funding for Connected Campaign Contributor Construction Companies anyway")

Digging up and replying to a post from a few months ago.

It seems that it would not be too difficult to remedy this conflict by putting passenger trains on the existing, abandoned Nickel Plate underpass under the NS line. Put all freight trains bound for 63rd St Yard on the north side of the passenger tracks, and those headed for Englewood Yard to the south, and split them around the NKP underpass. Better still, you could put the outbound passenger track on the south side and the inbound on the north, effectively turning the underpass into a flying junction, so inbound trains from Carbondale would never have to cross the path of outbound trains to Michigan.
(Note: this comment was edited after I had another look at the current Grand Crossing plans.)

See my map here!

The principle of environmental justice is laudable, but it seems to me the case against NS's expansion of Englewood Yard is pretty much moot by now; the construction is well underway, isn't it?

But north of 40th street they are still going to use the NS route to Union Station, right? Why build two routes when you only need one?

North of 40th, hypothetically, St. Louis trains can use the east side of the alignment to avoid any NS conflicts.

The diagram you drew up is clever as regards Park Manor Yard, but it isn't the approved plan that Amtrak drew up with NS, and only really eliminates the conflict for Carbondale and New Orleans trains. Michigan and points east trains would still have a conflict, just further south at some indetermined point (I guess that's where South Of The Lake picks up).

CTA Holiday Train & Bus 2015

• Video Link

Love the kid at 2:10

That's how I look on the morning of a revealed new tower announcement. Well... Beside being a white adult and sitting in front of SSP online... But otherwise...

Loop Link will have a soft open this Sunday!

http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20151...running-sunday

I'm eager to see the new dedicated delivery and livery/cab/rideshare standing lane in operation.

Considering the investment in this, I'd expect severe tickets for abusers of the lane, at least for the first month or so. It also has stronger designation and even some actual separation from the rest of the lanes compared to previous bus-only lanes.

I'm hopeful but not optimistic. I'd much prefer automatic enforcement but the state would need to act to allow it.

CTA can just put bats at each bus stop and impatient riders can "take care of the problem" themselves ...

The other problem is the left-hand curb lane, which is now a through-traffic lane at all hours but trucks and taxis will continue to use it.

Just give buses permission to ram the parked cars....problem solved. Sorry, but i also hate the cars that block intersections....we should be allowed to plow into them too. 8)

Well....the bike lane should work nicely at least.

I noticed today that the CTA changed the stop spacing for the 22/Clark bus at least through River North. I hope it helps.

On LaSalle the huge issues isn't cars as much as the hoards of buses that block intersections in the loop. I don't remember the last time I walked across LaSalle at Randolph at 8:40am and at least one bus wasn't blocking the intersection or sidewalk. It creates horrible issues that spread across the loop at these intersections.

They need to start seriously ticketing cars AND buses that block intersections.

I take the 135 to work and it can take 15mins to get from Wacker to Washington. The problem is often parked trucks being unloaded. If the City were to ban deliveries during morning and evening rush, I think it would smooth things out some.

I saw that ground breaking happened for the southern extension of the north branch trail, from Devon to Foster. Long needed. My friend and I rode into the city that way one time, and almost died on Caldwell/Cicero trying to get from the trail head to Foster.
I'm happy for all the residents there that will now have easier access to the trail. I'll love to make that ride again when it's done.
http://fpdcc.com/wp-content/uploads/...g-11302015.pdf

apparently the loop link might need a little tweaking.....

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f3...pssorra85q.jpg

LOL that didn't take long. Looks like the thermoplastic they used for the red didn't bond properly to the concrete. Water got underneath it, froze and it spalled off.

Most of the lanes were done with integral red concrete, so they won't fail like this. Just a a special case since this is on a bridge.

Union Station Transit Center
 

January 4, 2016

New Streetsblog "Transit Explorer" Map.....
 

http://chi.streetsblog.org/2016/01/1...n-chicagoland/

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

TRANSIT EXPLORER MAP SHOW NINE UPCOMING TRANSIT PROJECTS IN CHICAGOLAND by Steven Vance

Last week Yonah Freemark and I published a new Map called "Transit Explorer".....

South Side Groups: Make the Metra Electric run like the CTA 'L'....
 

http://chi.streetsblog.org/2016/01/1...ike-the-cta-l/

Thursday, January 14, 2016

South Side Groups: Make the Metra Electric Run like the CTA 'L'

Steven Vance


A dozen neighborhood organizations, along with the Active Transportation Alliance and the Center for Neighborhood Technology, are calling for the Metra Electric Line, with it's three branches that run through several South Side communities, to operate like a CTA 'L' line......

I will be attending this MPC event in March to lobby Sec. LaHood for a connection to the White House, to seek Gray Line Funding:

http://www.metroplanning.org/events/...ink/detail/355

http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago...t?oid=21007763

January 26, 2016 NEWS & POLITICS | TRANSPORTATION

By John Greenfield @greenfieldjohn

When I rode the Red Line from Uptown to downtown during the morning rush last week, my rail car was as packed as a sardine can by the time we left the Belmont stop. Damon Lockett, a copywriter who commutes daily from Edgewater to River North, told me that overcrowded trains are typical during peak hours nowadays.....

Union Station Transit Center
 

January 29, 2016

U.S. Transportation Secretary Foxx recommends 3.5 billion to expand transit options..
 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/c...211-story.html

Chicago transit overhaul gets $156M in federal funds, $125M more possible

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