What about composite plastic ties? I understood they used exactly that type of tie for the track replacement in the Kennedy median a few years ago. It makes more sense IMO for a rail line that's built in a trench below the water table.

Speaking of track replacement - news about the ORD branch of the Blue Line.

Is this Groundhog Day or something? I thought we already went through all this and eliminated O'Hare branch Blue Line slow zones a year or two ago.


http://www.chicagobusiness.com/artic...ravel-to-ohare
CTA OKs work to speed up travel to O'Hare
August 15, 2013

...

The CTA board on Wednesday approved a $20.4 million contract for the Blue Line renewal project.

The project calls for improvements on stretches of the Blue Line where track conditions are so poor trains are unable to travel at top speeds of 55 mph. In some of those so-called "slow zones," trains must limit their speed to between 15 and 35 mph.

The work is expected to begin in the spring of 2014 and continue through the fall. ...

Regardless of the water table, outside of a severe flood situation you should never have ties resting in standing water. The ballast should drain well enough to clear the water away. Does the Dan Ryan flood often? (ever?)

Truth is that wood treated with creosote is actually a very durable material and stands up quite well to the elements.

The drainage was shot and the degraded limestone ballast trapped moisture, accelerating the deterioration of ties and other components. New storm drainage and granite ballast is being put in which should keep the ROW dry.

Sure seems like a known problem like drainage rebuilding should have been coordinated and carried out at the same time as the Dan Ryan rebuild. Would have been significantly cheaper I'd imagine. I know I know, you couldn't politically shut both the Ryan and the Red line down simultaneously, but ideally...

^ IIRC that's exactly what they're doing. Repairing the drainage system (basins, drain tile, fabric, pumps, etc) is a huge part of the current rebuild. It's one reason why they had to do a total shutdown; repairing the drainage system with active trains running would have been near-impossible.

Unless you're suggesting they should have done the current Red Line work 8 years ago when they rebuilt the Ryan? Forget politics, that's just foolish. Where is everyone supposed to go when 130000 ppl/hr of capacity (expressway & rail combined) is removed from the system?

I'm confused by this as well. When I lived in Chicago back in '07 - '09, I remember plenty of work being done on the O'Hare branch.

The O'Hare branch could be thought of as having four distinct parts: the Kennedy median, the subway at O'Hare Terminal, the Kimball Connector subway, and the Milwaukee Ave. elevated. The work announced this month is on the elevated structure along Milwaukee Ave. This portion has the most slow zones and has received only piece-meal work in the past. The major projects in years past that you're referring to involved the O'Hare branch north of the elevated. Today that stretch is still free of slow zones.

DH

Not all parts of the line were done. The majority of the work happened between Addison-O'Hare and in the Dearborn subway as I recall, with the worst being the extension between Jefferson Park and O'Hare due to the bad ties installed when it was built.

Metra is going to allow Ventra to be used on trains. Hopefully it can be used for Divvy next.

http://goo.gl/iV7HWp

Win. This removes one huge barrier to the eventual discounting of transfers.

By improving convenience, it will still attract new riders and generate new trips involving multiple agencies, even if riders need to pay twice. Hopefully this will be a full adoption; monthly and ten-ride tickets should be shifted onto the Ventra card.

I think it may also nudge the dial towards more multi-modal thinking... Planners may consider more types of transfer facilities if everyone's using the same payment system.

Maybe next Julie Hamos can legislate memory schedules for Metra lines.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...0,787673.story

Public comment should be allowed as the task force named by Gov. Pat Quinn develops reforms for the Chicago area's mass transit system, U.S. Rep. Dan Lipinski said Monday.

The 15-member panel that Quinn appointed should hold several public forums so transit users and taxpayers can participate in the process, the Western Springs Democrat said in a letter to the panel's co-chairmen.

CTA plans to renovate Quincy.

http://www.transitchicago.com/news/d...ArticleId=3198

I'm not sure what I should be more puzzled about... the outrageous price of $15M for a pair of elevators, or the fact that the City apparently couldn't find a better use for $15M in the LaSalle Central TIF district?

If you read at the bottom of the article, already this "Schneider" person is saying "no public input" -- Time to bombard the Governor's Office with calls and e-mails to allow THE PUBLIC to testify at ALL of these Hearings. How can they decide what to do with TAXPAYER MONEY without TAXPAYER INPUT.

This is the same as the Metra Board mess (Secret meetings), will the Governor have to create a Panel to investigate this Panel???

They're doing more than just elevators obviously, but I wonder if security issues are boosting the cost - it overlooks the Quincy block that runs adjacent to the Federal Reserve, which is so heavily guarded it's got that high metal fence and those drawbridge-like flap thingies that protrude upwards from the pavement to prevent vehicular entry, except when lowered by the guard.

It's also very strange, as Quincy was the "restored" station CTA pledged to preserve so they could tear down all the others around the Loop. I have restored in quotes because in the end they replaced so much of the material that one would have to say reconstructed rather than restored.

Some of those other stations look awful right now. Wish some of that went toward interim improvements.

The CBS affiliate in Chicago reported on the progress of the Southside red line rebuild last week. The link includes a video news piece:

CTA’s Massive Red Line Project Right On TrackCTA’s Massive Red Line Project Right On Track

And from the Redeye:

And the least favorite CTA station is ...

moved to O'Hare thread