strictures

The Blue Island Branch is at grade, so the coaches are designed to also have low level boarding.

I've ridden LA's Metrolink & their cars, with two platform level doors are far better than our gallery cars. It's a far better design for everyone, not just the handicapped & those with strollers. That design also eliminates the needs for lifts, which are a costly addition & require extra maintenance. And I'm still baffled why the platforms at Ogilvie, LaSalle & the stubs at Union are not raised up to the level of the bottom step of the gallery cars. The claim that people will trip because they're not expecting it is absurd.

I just saw the chopper video & it appears that lead car 5143 just went past a switch.

It's not that one time. He appears to be stoned much of the time & not just weed.

It's never going to be built. Those who rode the test rack in LA, said it was a uncomfortable & bumpy ride. The entire idea of this tunnel with rides costing at least $25 a trip just isn't going to fly [pun intended]. Musk himself is about to go bankrupt, possibly taking down Tesla, probably caused by the libel suit from the British diver. Then on top of that, he appears to be a drug addict. Tesla also has many, many problems.

The rails on the North Side Mainline from Lawrence to Howard were replaced about 40 years ago, during a full rebuild, roadbed, ties & rail & there's far more use there than the SSM.

I occasionally ride the South Side Mainline & they're always doing track repairs, usually south of Indiana to Garfield. My guess would be inferior materials, maybe the ties, from the mid-90s rehab.

CTA has said before that they want a Glenlake entrance to Granville & then would close Thorndale. I'm guessing that once the S turn is gone, a new station will be at Irving Park. Now that Joe Moore isn't alderman anymore, Jarvis will probably go, he was the only one pushing to keep it, his aldermanic office was next door.

It won't mess up anyone's step rhythm, in fact, it would be safer with the tens of thousands that go through the stub terminals daily. All that will happen is they get to the bottom step & go right onto the raised platform.

What I notice from that photo is that the baggage platform at Union Station is level with the bottom step of the coaches, while the passenger platforms are a long step up. The same at Ogilvie & LaSalle. That makes no sense, as except for the through tracks at Union, no oversized equipment is going through the other stations, which are all stub end terminals. Metra needs to raise the platforms at Ogilvie & LaSalle & demand that Amtrak do the same at Union. Not only would that be safer, although high level boarding is the best, but it would also speed up unloading at the terminals.

If they're going to repaint them, I'd rather they went back to the C&NW's yellow & green.

When the last NABIs were at North Shore, I rode many that had both A/C & heat all summer.

I don't think anyone at the CTA has the foggiest idea that people are abandoning it not just because the ride sharing trips are faster, but because the CTA has become so horrendously uncomfortable! The sideways seats are disasters. They're too narrow & leave large gaps at the end of each section, because they should've bought wider seats, but didn't because some fool wanted to keep the inventory simpler. One day I took the L home from the Loop to Loyola & had to get up & stand halfway there, because some rude, huge guy squeezed his body into the half seat between me & another person. It was painful! If the artics on the Lake Shore Drive routes have springs & shock absorbers, it's news to me! The northern part of the 147 on Sheridan Road can knock out tooth fillings! I grew up riding buses that ran out of the old Diversey/Keeler garage & they had the softest ride of any buses, ever. Plus I love your signature line from "Yes, Prime Minister.

I read the article & this line makes no sense: "It estimates the new Metra Electric cars that were purchased in 2005 and 2012 have saved the system roughly $2.2 million in maintenance and fuel costs, because they run on electricity rather than diesel fuel." When did the IC or ME use diesel for regular commuter operations since the IC was forced to switch to electric in the mid 1920s? Obviously, there have been times they had to use a diesel to rescue a dead MU train. What I think this writer meant was that the newer electrified coaches may use less power to run.

If that crook Richie Daley & the CTA had used some foresight 25 years ago, they would've moved the South Side Mainline to the IC Mainline, just like the proposal was supposed to do so when they built the Dan Ryan Line. That was supposed to then go all the way to Kensington, with the IC then closing a lot of local stops. Then they could've used the Air Line to bring CTA trains to Soldier Field & the Field Museum. But Daley used rebuilding the SSML as a way to buy the South Side reverends to support his reelection, even though both sections end in the middle of nowhere. Now that foolish decision of the mid 1990s is going to bite us in taxes bank with having to extend the now Red Line to 130th Street at at an obscene cost!