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Edgewater Metra Station


Amtrak41

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Damn thing shouldn't be built at all until Clybourn & Rogers Park are rebuilt.

They're both dumps.

Add to that the rumors that Ald. Pat O'Connor's wife has extensive real estate holdings in the area of the proposed station makes this thing reek of insider deals & corruption.

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Damn thing shouldn't be built at all until Clybourn & Rogers Park are rebuilt.

They're both dumps.

Add to that the rumors that Ald. Pat O'Connor's wife has extensive real estate holdings in the area of the proposed station makes this thing reek of insider deals & corruption.

All I know is that when I lived on N. Ridge, I was told that the train didn't stop there.

There probably also is an issue that Metra expects the municipalities to support building stations, but Chicago barely recognizes Metra. However, my understanding was the CDOT rebuilt the Museum Campus-11th station.

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All I know is that when I lived on N. Ridge, I was told that the train didn't stop there.

There probably also is an issue that Metra expects the municipalities to support building stations, but Chicago barely recognizes Metra. However, my understanding was the CDOT rebuilt the Museum Campus-11th station.

The C&NW had a station at Ridge until about 1960. The station name was Kenmore & it was a pair of rickety old wooden platforms.

There's no parking there. While the same is true of Ravenswood & Rogers Park, they are established stations with large ridership. O'Connor's claim that it will ease the load at Ravenswood makes no sense, since few, if anyone travels from West Edgewater to Ravenswood to board. Metra says Ravenswood is the busiest stop on the UP North Line.

Just a small amount of money could extend Platform 1 at Rogers Park, so trains of any length could stop there & all cars could open their doors, instead of the first two staying closed on a number of rush hour trains.

That alone would ease the interior crush there. Most rush hour outbound trains that do stop at Rogers Park, run half empty after there.

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The C&NW had a station at Ridge until about 1960. The station name was Kenmore & it was a pair of rickety old wooden platforms.

There's no parking there. While the same is true of Ravenswood & Rogers Park, they are established stations with large ridership. O'Connor's claim that it will ease the load at Ravenswood makes no sense, since few, if anyone travels from West Edgewater to Ravenswood to board. Metra says Ravenswood is the busiest stop on the UP North Line.

Just a small amount of money could extend Platform 1 at Rogers Park, so trains of any length could stop there & all cars could open their doors, instead of the first two staying closed on a number of rush hour trains.

That alone would ease the interior crush there. Most rush hour outbound trains that do stop at Rogers Park, run half empty after there.

Interesting claim. I thought once you got north of say Peterson, that any commuters that live just east or west of the Metra tracks would probably use Rogers Park to ride Metra, if any did at all? Including those who live in West Edgewater, as well.

I'd have to agree that while having a station there would be nice(and as I don't live too far away southeast of there), I'd prefer first fixing up the UP-N stations that often seem to be forgotten for improvements. Like the needs to lengthen the platform at Rogers Park, and modernizing the crumbling Clybourn station.

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Interesting claim. I thought once you got north of say Peterson, that any commuters that live just east or west of the Metra tracks would probably use Rogers Park to ride Metra, if any did at all? Including those who live in West Edgewater, as well.

When I lived there, Metra really wasn't a possibility, basically it was to take the 155 bus to the L. For others, I suppose 84 or 96.

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Guest ctafan630

The C&NW had a station at Ridge until about 1960. The station name was Kenmore & it was a pair of rickety old wooden platforms.

There's no parking there. While the same is true of Ravenswood & Rogers Park, they are established stations with large ridership. O'Connor's claim that it will ease the load at Ravenswood makes no sense, since few, if anyone travels from West Edgewater to Ravenswood to board. Metra says Ravenswood is the busiest stop on the UP North Line.

Just a small amount of money could extend Platform 1 at Rogers Park, so trains of any length could stop there & all cars could open their doors, instead of the first two staying closed on a number of rush hour trains.

That alone would ease the interior crush there. Most rush hour outbound trains that do stop at Rogers Park, run half empty after there.

This really doesn't make sense. I thought Metra really didn't want to compete with the CTA. I'd have to agree with you on upgrading existing service before adding another station in Chicago.

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Is the hidden agenda so that some of Edgewater don't have to ride the Red Line with "those people " ?

I don't think so. This just seems to be a combination of that the station has high ridership, and there isn't coordinated planning. Metra was going to rebuild the UP North Line anyway.

Somebody hasn't suggested that there be regular transfers between the 81 bus and Metra, for instance.

If you want to get technical, this station is about one block from the Brown Line, so the Red Line really isn't implicated. "Those people" are like Emanuel and Claypool (at least they claim to ride).

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If you want to get technical, this station is about one block from the Brown Line, so the Red Line really isn't implicated. "Those people" are like Emanuel and Claypool (at least they claim to ride).

To be really technical, the nearest Brown Line station is a half mile away from the Ravenswood Metra station.

Formerly, the Ravenswood C&NW station was at Wilson, but the railroad moved it north to Lawrence Ave. around 1970, so it could be across the street from the railroad's accounting offices, which is now Element 14 [Newark Electronics].

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To be really technical, the nearest Brown Line station is a half mile away from the Ravenswood Metra station.

Formerly, the Ravenswood C&NW station was at Wilson, but the railroad moved it north to Lawrence Ave. around 1970, so it could be across the street from the railroad's accounting offices, which is now Element 14 [Newark Electronics].

I was referring to Damen (4700 North), which would be 2 blocks according to the CTA Route Guide. Wilson didn't enter into my calculation one way or the other.

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You could make an argument that it's two blocks as the crow flies from the Damen platform to the nearest point on the UP-N tracks. But if the crow wants to walk to the station, it's a bit further.

You have to walk half a block north on Damen to Leland. Then you have to walk 3 blocks east to Ravenswood (Winchester, Wolcott, Ravenswood). Then if you turn left (north) on Ravenswood, you have to walk a block to the south stairway leading to the outbound tracks (where Giddings would be). If you want to go inbound, you have to walk an additional block to Lawrence.

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  • 2 months later...

No idea, but they haven't even started on the inbound side platform, so it's at least the end of 2015 at the earliest.

Question there is whether the aborted single track rebuild and the eventual need to rebuild the track and associated structure affect that.

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Question there is whether the aborted single track rebuild and the eventual need to rebuild the track and associated structure affect that.

A couple of weeks ago, they started to dump new ballast on some of the new bridges, but since then, no more. It wasn't much ballast either, just a couple inches thick.

I assume the new track will have to be completed before they even start on the east side platform.

What I never understood was why Metra decided to replace the bridges piecemeal, instead of the way the CTA did in Evanston. Build the new bridge offsite, close the line for 2-3 days over the weekend & move in an entirely new bridge for all three tracks.

They could have had all the bridges done in one summer.

Remember, all the bridges in Rogers Park, Edgewater, Evanston & from Downtown north to Lakeview will also need replacing in the next 10 years.

The ones they've done so far aren't even the worst. I've been under the Wrightwood Ave. bridge & it's got a lot of steel that's totally rusted away. I'm amazed it can support the weight of the locomotives.

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A couple of weeks ago, they started to dump new ballast on some of the new bridges, but since then, no more. It wasn't much ballast either, just a couple inches thick.

I assume the new track will have to be completed before they even start on the east side platform.

What I never understood was why Metra decided to replace the bridges piecemeal, instead of the way the CTA did in Evanston. Build the new bridge offsite, close the line for 2-3 days over the weekend & move in an entirely new bridge for all three tracks.

They could have had all the bridges done in one summer.

Remember, all the bridges in Rogers Park, Edgewater, Evanston & from Downtown north to Lakeview will also need replacing in the next 10 years.

The ones they've done so far aren't even the worst. I've been under the Wrightwood Ave. bridge & it's got a lot of steel that's totally rusted away. I'm amazed it can support the weight of the locomotives.

I noticed that a couple weeks ago when I rode the UP into OTC from Evanston... It took some getting used to seeing UP operate commuter rail in the reverse of most North American railroads (inbound trains on what would normally be the outbound tracks and vice versa).

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I noticed that a couple weeks ago when I rode the UP into OTC from Evanston... It took some getting used to seeing UP operate commuter rail in the reverse of most North American railroads (inbound trains on what would normally be the outbound tracks and vice versa).

The C&NW always operated left handed on all multi track sections.

The railroad has claimed that it's because when they double tracked the single track Galena & Chicago Union RR, they were too cheap to move the station houses from the north side of the single track, where they were located to supposedly protect passengers from the winter winds over to the south side, so the railroad started to run left handed.

But 99% of the public, including almost all C&NW veterans say it's because the railroad was funded by British interests, who demanded left handed running in exchange for the money.

I'm really baffled why the Union Pacific didn't change it when it bought the C&NW in 1995.

I also don't know why Metra doesn't want it changed so it runs the same as all the other commuter operations here.

And if you look at the massive structure Metra is building at Ravenswood, you'd think that was the new inbound platform.

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The C&NW always operated left handed on all multi track sections.

The railroad has claimed that it's because when they double tracked the single track Galena & Chicago Union RR, they were too cheap to move the station houses from the north side of the single track, where they were located to supposedly protect passengers from the winter winds over to the south side, so the railroad started to run left handed.

But 99% of the public, including almost all C&NW veterans say it's because the railroad was funded by British interests, who demanded left handed running in exchange for the money.

I'm really baffled why the Union Pacific didn't change it when it bought the C&NW in 1995.

I also don't know why Metra doesn't want it changed so it runs the same as all the other commuter operations here.

And if you look at the massive structure Metra is building at Ravenswood, you'd think that was the new inbound platform.

The other (consistent) explanation given by Geoff Baer is that when Walter Gurnee built the north route, the stations were on the east side of the track, and, again, they built the second track to the west. There probably were other limitations, since the C&NS ran east of the C&NW, so they probably couldn't expand there.

Why it hasn't been changed can be seen at like the Highland Park Metra station, where the ornate building is on the east, and pretty much everyone in the waiting room would have to cross the tracks to get to an inbound train, which probably is blocking the crosswalk. Doesn't do much for those coming from the west parking lot and Pace bus turnaround, though.

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