west towns Posted December 30, 2010 Report Share Posted December 30, 2010 Anyone know what is happening with the Joliet Union Station? The city has been conducting a study on building a new multi-modal station south of the diamond preserving the historic station. Gov Quinn had an announcement last October Joliet was receiving around $40 million for the station. The project info on the city website shows Metra relocationg the Rock platforms east of the diamond. Is this project getting down or pie in sky? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artthouwill Posted December 30, 2010 Report Share Posted December 30, 2010 Me thinks this was discussed in another thread? http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/CHICAGOTRANSIT/msearch?query=joliet+union+station&submit=Search&charset=ISO-8859-1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
artthouwill Posted February 4, 2013 Report Share Posted February 4, 2013 Anyone know what is happening with the Joliet Union Station? The city has been conducting a study on building a new multi-modal station south of the diamond preserving the historic station. Gov Quinn had an announcement last October Joliet was receiving around $40 million for the station. The project info on the city website shows Metra relocationg the Rock platforms east of the diamond. Is this project getting down or pie in sky? I guess it is getting down. http://metrarail.com/content/dam/metra/documents/Board_Information/2013/January2013/January_2013_Board.pdf Personally I think this is a waste of money. If I saw the diagram correctly, the new platform would be east of the CN tracks. How are the passengers supposed to get to the new platform from the old station, cross those tracks? Not very well thought out, not very well planned, not necessary at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mister Uptempo Posted March 19, 2013 Report Share Posted March 19, 2013 Work has definitely started on Joliet Union Station. Called the Joliet Gateway Center, construction started last fall, with all the "Phase 1A" projects. "Phase 1B" starts this spring, "Phase 2" this summer, and "Phase 3" in 2014. In brief, a new train station will be built east of the Heritage Corridor tracks, and north of the Rock Island tracks. A new bus terminal and turnaround will be located in the southwest quadrant of the complex. The old train station will be utilized for "transit focused retail". All elements will be connected with a series of passageways. The Rock Island platform is being moved east in order to eliminate conflicts between Metra passenger and UP and BNSF freight trains. One or two of the freight tracks are supposed to be moved. The Heritage Corridor platform will be rebuilt as well, with access to the new platform with passageways, so commuters won't have to cross active freight lines. The UD interlocking tower will be torn down. The new train station will partially occupy the footprint of the tower. Once the tower is demolished, control of the interlocking will transfer from Metra to UP and BNSF. New train station - ground level view New train station - aerial view New bus terminal - ground level view New bus terminal and turnaround - aerial view Above images from NRHS Blackhawk Chapter website. http://www.blackhawknrhs.org/joliet4a.htm Looking at the Metra presentation that you linked to- It looks as if some alterations may occur to the plans for the new Rock Island platform. Late in 2012, the FRA approved IDOT's Tier 1 Environmental Impact Statement for higher speed rail on the Lincoln Service, linking Chicago with St. Louis. The EIS calls for using a new route between Chicago Union Station and Joliet. Currently, the Metra Heritage Corridor is used, but the proposal plans on using the Metra Rock Island route, accessing Chicago Union Station via the NS, with a connection at 40th Street. The once-a-day Amtrak Texas Eagle would also shift to this new alignment. The faint aqua line in the image above shows what appears to be the new connection between the Rock Island and the UP tracks, which continues the LIncoln Service route downstate. I have no idea what the white line is meant to represent. If the new connection is built as shown, another new platform would have to be built to accommodate Amtrak passengers, or the proposed new Rock Island platform would have to be built as center track platform, that would be used by both Amtrak passengers and Rock Island commuters. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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