Saw the new station today. I thought it was bright and airy, at least.

The CTA is far ahead of the MBTA and the NYC Subway in terms of station repair and cleanliness. SEPTA is probably on par with CTA with many of their stations being renovated recently.

So, best of the worst?

First new Loop 'L' station in 20 years creates curvy gateway to Millennium Park
By Blair Kamin - Contact Reporter
August 30, 2017, 6:20 AM

Definitely one way to describe it...

I still have never heard what the industry term is for those one-way turnstiles that look like they were designed for ground meat processing. Perhaps they were salvaged from the stockyards. Anyway I have this feeling ardecila will know and yet Mr Downtown will end up having posted the answer just a nose sooner.

Roto-Gates.

I'm indebted to John Greenfield of Streetsblog Chicago for his one-liner about the new WaWa station: Ribbed for Your Pleasure.

Aren't they colloquially referred to as Iron Maiden's, at least historically?

^^ Thanks for scratching that itch Mr Downtown. In record time as well.
Though this name is not terribly unique. Better to call it something ominously final. If not Iron Maiden, then Portal of No Return? Iron Valve of Despair? Terror Gate That Separates A Curious 6 Year Old From His Grandma? Whoops, just had a flashback.


Mr Greenfield may be clever, but I would rather he explain his meaning when he described the station as "Chicago’s latest piece of marquis transportation project;" did he mean marquee or is this turn of words ribbed for our pleasure?

Wawa canopy is already leaking

https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/com...e_roof_doesnt/

^ What else is new in this city. Probably when picking a subcontractor, they didn't want to hire nobody nobody sent.


That's become a long reddit page - there are more posts than you'd see on a Tribune page or that you'll see here.

Stuff like this is not uncommon in a large, complex project. It's not that the roof was done improperly... most likely, the opening date was rushed before the work was 100% complete.

I'm not sure if accelerated opening date was driven by Rahm looking for a flashy ribbon-cutting, or the CTA's timeline for closing/demolishing the old Randolph/Wabash before winter sets in. Maybe both.

With all the talk of developing Goose Island and areas around the North Branch, where are the transit plans to support that development? There have been a number of plans in the past that would do well to supplement the area, as well as a recent suggestion (I hesitate to call it a plan or even a proposal) to build some sort of railway similar to London's Docklands line that would serve those areas, but nothing came of those. That might be interesting, but really what makes the most sense to me is to actually do the Circle Line with the north end taking Ashland all the way to Cortland, plus do a Clinton subway that, instead of breaking from the Red Line at Larrabee, breaks at Halsted and then follows the west bank of the river to roughly Erie before lining up with Clinton, and then jogs east south of Congress somewhere to serve those new South Branch riverfront developments. Run the Circle Line as an independent line using the State Street subway, and run the Red Line through the Clinton Street subway. Sure the total cost of doing all that would probably be in the range of $8 billion but it would solve or greatly relieve many of the current issues. Then you could also easily run the Purple Line through the State Street subway, and give it extended hours service all day. You could even start running the Yellow Line south as an express, supplementing the Purple Line since neither one of them need high frequencies during the day on their own, but run together it might be nice. Plus that gives the whole north side one-seat access to Skokie and Evanston, which would be nice.

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4420/...4db87be9_b.jpg
Clinton-Circle
by Google maps plus my edits

^^ That makes me feel better. Well at least cautiously optimistic.

Any time I walk through the terminals and parking facilities of O'Hare, or through various other City facilities downtown, I'm always noticing things that weren't built and/or designed to last very many years without rusting, falling apart, becoming filthy, or falling far short of user friendliness. The pedway and parts of the Grant Park garages come to mind. When you compare to certain facilities in many west coast cities for example, you start to wonder about how the sausage is being made here.

If Rahm can convince Amazon to build its second HQ in Chicago, I wonder if that would provide the impetus for building his long desired high speed rail connection between downtown & O'Hare? Or perhaps he'd make it part of negotiations to convince them to build here. Basically, if you build in Chicago, we'll build the fast train to O'Hare. (among many other items I'm sure he'd offer to get them to build in Chicago)

I'd rather money be spent on local subways like the map I posted a couple posts up.

Or, if express service to O'Hare is done, it be done with the Crossrail proposal and combined with a strong push for HSR between Chicago, Minneapolis via Milwaukee and Madison and Rochester, Detroit via South Bend and Kalamazoo and Ann Arbor, and Cinci or Columbus via Indy.

If St. Louis could link up with KC, and Detroit to Toronto, and a Ft. Wayne, Toledo and Cleveland route put together, too, all the better. Just routes to St. Louis and Minneapolis would be a good starting point. Both St. Louis and Minneapolis have the infrastructure to handle downtown train service, although both might link into their airports, too.

As far as cities that could make use of downtown connections, Cleveland probably could, too. Detroit is just starting to have worthwhile downtown transit, and Indy isn't really known for that, either. For the intermediate stops, Milwaukee, Madison, Champaign and Springfield all are pretty well set up for that, at least by American standards. HSR in them would help push them to densify their centers, too.

^^ That's exactly what I thought of too. Nabbing Amazon, even if Amazon didn't make airport rail connections an explicit requirement, would give political, and financial, capital towards building an express train. A reliable airport train is really price of admission to being a global city.

The sausage is being made in a much harsher, more extreme climate. With that said, a frequent lack of sufficient commensurate maintenance is not necessarily a good excuse.

I have to say as someone who has flown in and out of Chicago from Berlin and other points in Europe for about a decade now I think Chicago does a pretty decent job, especially as the slow zones on the Blue Line have disappeared.

Compared to JFK in NYC, which is an expensive joke ($7.00 for a 10-minute AirTrain ride to the MTA?), or LA (let's not even bother) the CTA will take you to O'Hare OR Midway for $2.25.

In Berlin we don't even have rail service to Tegel (much less a modern airport but that's another story) and they stuck the Schönefeld airport S-Bahn station in Zone C so you get whacked with a higher ticket price.

It's not unusual for trains to Stansted or Gatwick to simply be cancelled and the London Tube is an expensive option to get to Heathrow.

Rome is a joke, Paris is pretty good and Amsterdam is a breeze but I'd say Chicago holds up pretty well to any European city of comparable size.

I'm not saying there isn't room for improvement but last time I flew into O'Hare I was through the airport down to Helmut Jahn's fantastic gateway to the CTA and in the Loop in an impressively short period of time.

Added bonus of watching the Chicago skyline bear down on you as you head into the Loop.

This. Anyone who doesn't think the existing connections are acceptable must not have a broad experience with other cities' airport connections. Are there cities with better connections? Of course. But there is a long list of important cities with either no connections to speak of, or really awkward ones that seem like they were a waste of money for what they actually provide.

In my opinion, a stand-alone airport express from the Loop to O'Hare would be a waste of money. An Express that was built as a piggy-back on HSR to cities North of Chicago, or as a terminal for HSR from cities to the South would be cool, but investing to keep the Blue Line runs at about 40 minutes is cheaper and benefits everyone on or visiting the Northwest side and not just business travelers. The RER connection in Paris is pretty good, and it only saves about 5 minutes compared to the time a fully healthy Blue Line run does, and since the Blue Line runs more frequently the effective average time is about the same.

For the cost of an airport express you could put a nice down payment on a Clinton subway or a downtown circulator that far more people would use.

The el is pretty much a joke as airport access if we're trying to be a global city. Yesterday (Friday) on the radio news, in the span of 6 hours there were 4 separate announcements of stoppages on el lines. At night, there was a very publicized shooting on the train at Ashland/Lake which halted the Green Line. Earlier, the Red Line was stopped around Howard because of a sick passenger. Before that, there was an announcement about police activity on the Green Line. And late in the afternoon there was news of residual delays after problems on the Blue Line.

Crime (as well as panhandling and general dirtiness) and random stoppages of completely unforeseeable duration are not compatible with being a real airport link.

dropdeaded209's comments aren't terribly helpful in planning airport access. First, simply saying much of Europe is lousy and therefore Chicago has nothing to worry about is really celebrating mediocrity. Second, there nevertheless are excellent airport links in Europe, like Vienna's stellar new train, and the good ones dropdeaded209 listed, and then the Elizabeth Line / Crossrail is about to open to Heathrow. Third, Europe doesn't have the violent crime problem Chicago has, and because European cities already have a critical mass of non-poor riders going to the airport, there are more "eyes" everywhere and more safety. Meanwhile, in Chicago there is little reason to think crime will do anything but increase going forward (though one can hope). Fourth, we are in the midst of a process of planning a possible airport link, that means you don't compare to what Europe built in the 1970s or 1990s or 2010s; you have to project what society will need and expect in 2030 and 2040.

Finally, why even look at Europe; Asia is light years ahead on airport trains, and those should be the guideposts.

I'm not in a position to offer an instant financial justification for an airport link over other downtown rail projects; it's quite true those would benefit more riders. But the Kennedy is turning into gridlock, which will throttle the whole point of the airport, as well as choke much other activity. Moreover, a highly reliable airport link can easily help lure more jobs, and countless other activity, to the city. It even has that aspect of a Millennium Park or a museum expansion where a seemingly zero ROI on public investment will end up producing great dividends.

you'll notice (or maybe you didn't) that I didn't say there wasn't room for improvement... also i don't think you can really blame the CTA for stopping when a passenger is sick...

i'm certainly in agreement that we can do better but i thought it was worth pointing out we're not exactly starting from zero... on that note the smell upon entering the O'Hare station is another, albeit perhaps more minor, issue....

^ No, your post was basically ok; my point was that it ought not be then used to suggest Chicago deprioritize the airport link.


As for sick passengers: Well, let's just look at how bizarrely often this occurs. Here are some CTA rail-related tweets from just the last 48 hours (basically all day Fri and all day Sat) in reverse chronological order: (This is only about half the tweets regarding stoppages during this time, since many tweets are updates that repeat or announce the stoppage is ending.)

5h ago: Howard-bound Red Line trains are operating with residual delays after an earlier sick customer at 87th. Service is resuming.

6h ago: Howard-bound Red Line trains are standing at 87th due to a sick customer; crews working to restore service.

14h ago: Some O'Hare-bound Blue Line trains are operating with residual delays after an earlier sick customer at O'Hare. Service is resuming.

15h ago: O'Hare-bound Blue Line trains are standing near Rosemont due to a sick customer; crews working to restore service.

Sep 8: Kimball-bound Brown Line trains are standing at Paulina due to a sick customer; crews working to restore service.

Sep 8: Some Green and Pink Line trains are operating with residual delays after an earlier signal problem near Ashland/Lake.Service is resuming.

Sep 8: Normal service on the Green Line is resuming after earlier police activity at Ashland/Lake, w/residual delays.

Sep 8: Howard-bound Red Line trains are standing at Grand due to a sick customer; Consider alternatives and local bus routes.

Sep 8: O'Hare-bound Blue Line trains are standing at Pulaski due to a mechanical problem on a train; crews working to restore service.

Sep 8: Loop-bound Pink Line trains are standing at Polk due to a mechanical problem on a train; crews working to restore service.

Sep 8: Some Howard-bound Red Line trains are operating with residual delays after an earlier sick customer at Clark/Division. Service is resuming.

Sep 8: Linden-bound Purple trains are standing at Granville due to mechanical problem on a train; crews working to restore service.

Sep 8: Howard-bound Red Line trains are standing at 63rd due to police activity on the train; crews working to restore service.


Thank you, Twitter account. If you look at the full list of tweets, some of these incidents span multiple hours. Did I mention it's not January and below zero. Nor is it 90 degrees, or raining. Nor is Lollapalooza happening, nor was there a salmonella outbreak. I think it's entirely conceivable "sick passenger" might be a CTA/police euphemism for ejecting a nuisance passenger (passively homeless, or actively harassing people, etc.), or something. Regardless, the more unplanned stoppages occur, the more you need a separate train for the airport.

Most of those could be solved with a policy change: in the event of a sick passenger, offload them and proceed. I really don't understand why that's not already policy.

I was sick on the train once. I didn't linger. Once it stopped you couldn't get me off that train fast enough. The Ashland orange line platform didn't fair so well. I'll never forget the look of horror on that little old Mexican woman's face.

^ On the NYC subway back in 2008 New Years Eve we were sitting across from a drunk girl (inside the train) who just puked all over the floor right in front of us.

Ahhh, that was pleasant...

Great memories are often smelly ones ;)

:haha: Ha ha ha ha ha, nasty boy or girl... Bon, let's say you're thinking of Swiss fondue, huh.

Flying back from Barcelona a few years ago there was an exceptional gentleman, who I believe had no connection to the woman in this story, who was crouching in front of an airsick woman, holding the airsick bag while she made full use of it. I was both grossed out and quite impressed at both his strong stomach and kind willingness to help her in such a direct, pragmatic way. I like to think that I'm a good person who will go an extra mile to help a fellow human in need, but I'm not sure I'd have been willing to go that far to aid a fellow passenger.

Hasn't Toronto's experience with the Union-Pearson express train been underwhelming?

Also regarding HSR, I just can't imagine anything positive coming from Wisconsin unless there is a big change in political leadership up there, so its hard to see CHI-MIL service coming soon. Maybe the Walker administration is thawing its stance because there's been the talk about track improvements allowing for an increase in Hiawatha frequency. Other realistic baby steps right now should be getting the midwest regional rail fleet fiasco at Nippon Sharyo fixed, rumor is that Sumitomo is subcontracting out to Siemens now and they might try to rush something in the next year?

Here's a thought, what if the blue line got passing tracks wherever they'd fit, like on the outer segment of the line which isn't subway? Then limited stop airport trains would be able to serve the line? This might be quite a bit less expensive than building a "high speed" rail line to the airport, which would never actually be "high speed" and would require a new alignment anyways. Benefits of this would include a new infill station between Harlem-Ohare and Jefferson Park, which could be built along with a wider track in an altered I-90 alignment.

That was the scheme being studied in the last few Daley years, and they'd modeled that a few well-located passing sidings could let the Blue Line run express trains. But one siding would have to be in the Milwaukee subway portion, and others would require expressway widening or complex vertical separations. Not cheap. And any of these three-track schemes would require a Japanese or Swiss culture of precision timekeeping to be implanted into the CTA.

I think going forward into the future, more automated train control would work.

We can build a self driving car that can freely roam on public streets in any direction and avoid unpredictable human pedestrians and human driven cars but we can't design a self driving vehicle that runs on freaking rails! on a predictable timetable without needing additional investment in lineside signalling systems?

In Chicago, I think we'll get to Mars first...

You used to be able to get there on the MD-W.

Does anyone know when the Green Line Damen station design is expected to be complete and when construction starts?

Design and engineering work began this summer and construction will being 3rd quarter of 2018. Won't be finished until 2020.

https://www.chicago-l.org/stations/damen-lake.html

First, CTA hasn't had conductors since 1997.

Second, what skin is it off your nose for the operator to show a little courtesy so long as the train keeps its schedule?

^Operator/driver/motorman...

Like all trains, the L runs on a schedule. It has little bits of air in it in case of problems, which is why trains will sometimes stand for 3-5 minutes at Grand SB or Roosevelt NB, so they're not arriving at stations early. If the operator is already "up" by a minute or two, it causes no problems to wait for a patron having trouble—except it risks riling up people who think the entire world revolves around them.

Personally, I'd have preferred putting a stop at Madison/Paulina on the Pink line over this but this works too.

^^^ They still can. For that area around the United Center to boom (and to get rid of those parking lots) it could use both stations.


Also, I heard someone mention a proposed 15th street station on the Red Line. I didn't find any info on that. Is that a real proposal?

Related Midwest wants a 15th street station, along with a new Metra station, for their proposal on the 62-acres they own. They admitted in a Tribune article back in May that they haven't contacted the CTA or Metra about it, but hopefully they have done so at this point.

Seems like a 15th St Red Line would be tricky given that it is on an incline. There is space to excavate a station, but the neighborhood might not be happy with increased foot traffic on 15th.

They should consider putting some money towards a Clinton St subway line, but I can't imagine that even has a chance to get off the ground until there are solid development proposals in the SW Loop (i.e. the dead zone Dan Ryan to the river, south of Congress) and the Riverline project is well underway. Perhaps CTA/City should be looking at protecting a new subway route.

At 15th Street the Red Line tunnel is still east of Clark, which works poorly for what should be a massive development that deserves a station closer to its middle.

On top of that, the initial (and in the long term likely the tallest and largest) developments will probably be on the northern portions of the parcel -- where Red Line Roosevelt is actually a shorter walk.

Is there physical and operational leeway to run an unmanned piston shuttle between this giant development and LaSalle St Station, to essentially make it a virtual extension of the southwest Loop?

Finally, the Union Station tracks are so tantalizingly close to this site; has anyone ever thought of a bridge or tunnel at the northern end of this site to link it to Union Station (and then maybe through-route it up to Finkl or the Metra lines)? There seems to be ample space on both sides of the river for it.

No, the main exit from a Red Line station could easily be on the site:

https://i.imgur.com/U4YeEkD.png?1

Interestingly, this weekend Metra is replacing the diamonds where the Rock Island crosses the St Charles Air Line and the CN Freeport Sub. That's work that might need to be redone if Related succeeds in moving the Metra tracks to run up the middle of their site.

^ So is that 8 diamonds? Sounds like small dollars regardless.

Are we wed to an infill station being precisely at 15th Street (as in that diagram)? Is this because cut-and-cover has already been completed so they need only excavate the lid? Or because further south the tracks are at an incline? Because if Rock Island is relocated, it seems like a station straddling Clark or west of it would be a bit better of a location. Minor matter though, compared to whether and how Rock Island would be relocated.

My map doesn't show a station; it shows the small CTA substation building that's already there.

My assumption is that a new 10-car station would stretch from roughly the north curb of 15th southwest past the current Metra Rock Island tracks. The entrances could be both east and west of Clark, but it's less confusing for us to call the station "15th."

When you say your map ... I'm guessing this probably is really a map you made and manage? (That must be another substation at 14th Place, in the same gray, or an electrical utility yard since it's somewhat large.) So this is how you play god in the South Loop, publishing whatever images will suit your diabolical plans.

I just realized it's not immediately obvious why the expensive Red Line connector tunnel was necessary; Loop subway trains were already capable of connection to the Dan Ryan because Lake - Dan Ryan was a pre 1990s line and the 13th St portal brought those Loop subway trains onto that right of way. Was it just the congestion of switching between inner and outer tracks around 16th and 17th?

Yes, I've drawn many maps of Chicago, including one showing every structure in the central area.

The HoDaR realignment of 1993 was to better balance the heaviest lines. Dan Ryan had far more ridership than Lake, and Howard far more than Jackson Park/Englewood. It was thought that squeezing the new Red Line, the Green Line, and the new Orange Line through 17th Tower and Junction would be too much. A new smoothly curving alignment would save at least 60 seconds over the sharp curves onto and off the 18th Street structure. That structure was itself in danger of failure, supported by emergency cribbing and needing extensive repair.

Wouldn't that result in curving (and possibly sloping) platforms? I guess that's not a deal breaker, CTA already operates curved platforms on the Blue Line at Jeff Park/Addison/Kedzie.

I think a slight curve wouldn't be a dealbreaker; you can put up CCTVs so the operator can observe the rear doors. Lots of examples around the world.

As for the slope, that's a little more problematic with CTA's dynamic brakes—though I think a couple of the Kennedy Expressway stations might not be totally flat. I've speculated that they might be able to increase the slope a wee bit for both approaches in order to have 500 feet of level track at the station. It might be easiest to dig 1000 feet of new cut-and-cover subway just west of the current tunnel with the new station (or at least the west half of it) on a straight, level alignment. Then the current tunnel could be abandoned/turned into the northbound platform. All this gets much easier once the Rock Island is realigned.

Chicago-Columbus-Pittsburg hyperloop?

I hadn't heard of this:
https://hyperloop-one.com/blog/state...sburgh-chicago