Quote:
Originally Posted by twister244
Here's a question - Is there a place for someone like Brightline within the Chicago/Midwest arena?
I hadn't heard of Brightline until two seconds ago hearing about the LA/Vegas route about to be developed. I don't know the background, but when I looked up the trains and routes in Florida, they look damn nice.
Obviously Metra technically has jurisdiction for the metro suburban market, but can Brightline make an entrance with something like a Chicago/Milwaukee route?.... Or a Chicago-MI route? Or is this something Amtrack also plans on tackling?
Just thinking out loud after looking up Brightline....
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The only new corridors I see Brightline taking up are the Texas Triangle Routes...but the rest of the Country will largely have to deal with Amtrak and most state plans seem to acknowledge that. Amtrak has a lot of plans for the Midwestern Region and if the FRA Study gains traction then the Interstate Regions will be well-connected as well. Michigan , Minnesota and Illinois have strong plans and securing funding seems to be easier. While Ohio , Indiana , Wisconsin , Missouri are kinda shaky in the funding / political will dept. I'll just list the plans/proposals for the Chicago Amtrak Hub over the next 15-20yrs , I don't know the final name of some of these proposed services so I just them a generic name. I pulled most of this off of the
2035 plan and various state proposals and the
FRA long distance Study with the full build out.
Chicago Hub
Illinois - Indiana - Michigan : Southern / Eastern Routes
- Build an upgraded Airline Route allowing for direct access to Chicago Union Station from the Eastern Routes
- Overhauling the Chicago Union Station Complex
- Shift Amtrak Operations over to the South Shore Line West of Michigan City for increased reliability
- Increase Track Speeds to 90-110mph along all Illinois and Michigan Routes
- Increase Service along the Amtrak Pere Marquette 1x>3x daily
- Increase Service along the Amtrak Wolverine 3x> 6x daily
- Increase Service along the Amtrak Blue Water 1x>2x daily
- Increase Service along the Amtrak Illini/Saluki 2x>3x daily
- New Service : Amtrak Hoosier Northern – Chicago – Fort Wayne – Toledo – Cleveland – 2x daily
- Restore the Amtrak Hoosier State and extend to Cincinnati – 3x daily
- Restore the Amtrak Kentucky Cardinal to Louisville – Indianapolis – Chicago – 3x daily
- Restore the Amtrak Three Rivers Service : Chicago – Fort Wayne – Akron – Youngstown – Pittsburgh – Harrisburg – Philly – NY – 1x daily
- Restore the Amtrak Mountaineer : Chicago - Cincinnati - Christiansburg - Roanoke - Petersburg - Norfolk - 1x daily
- Restore the Amtrak Floridian : Chicago - Louisville - Nashville - Birmingham - Jacksonville - Orlando - Tampa & Miami - 1x daily
- Restore the Amtrak International : Chicago - Kalamazoo - Detroit - London - Toronto - 1x daily
Illinois - Iowa - Missouri : Western Routes
- New Service : Amtrak Quad Cities service to Iowa City – Davenport – Chicago – 3x daily
- Restore the Amtrak Black Hawk service to Dubuque – Rockford – Chicago – 3x daily
- Extend Carl Sandburg to Hannibal - Quincy - Naperville - Chicago - 3x daily
Illinois - Wisconsin : Northern Routes
- New Hiawatha Service to Green Bay from Chicago-Milwaukee – 3x daily
- New Hiawatha Service to Madison from Chicago-Milwaukee – 5x daily
- New Service : Amtrak Great Rivers to St. Paul via Eau Claire from Chicago-Milwaukee – 2x daily
- Restore the Amtrak North Coast Hiawatha - Seattle - Spokane - Missoula - Bismark - Fargo - St Paul - Eau Caire - Milwaukee - Chicago - 1x daily
Now I have a few proposals that i'd like to see happen over the next 20yrs a mixture of Amtrak & Regional Rail Expansions , though very unlikely to happen without a massive political shift
- Extend the Metra Electric Line to Kankakee
- Extend the South Shore Line to Goshen
- New Electric Regional Rail service to Fort Wayne from Chicago Millennium Station
- Extend the Electrified West Lake Corridor to Lafayette
- Electrify the remaining Diesel Metra lines
- Electrify the Amtrak Illinois , Hiawatha to Milwaukee & Michigan Routes
- Build the Metra Southeast Service : Chicago – Thorton – South Chicago – Balmoral Park
- Southern Tier Limited : Chicago - Toledo - Cleveland - Erie - Binghamton - Scranton - Newark - Hoboken - 1x daily
- North Star - Chicago : Milwaukee-Appleton-Superior-Duluth -1x daily
- Restore & Extend the Amtrak Lake Country Limited : Madison – Janesville – Chicago – 3x daily