Random Metra

[Smolensk]

16 hours ago, artthouwill said:

S I thought Bloomington was served by Greyhound buses heading to St Louis from Chicago.  Greyhound service to Iowa goes through Dekalb to Rochelle.  

Bloomington Normal is served only by buses 4562 and 4563 (shown above).

Rochelle is served by 4562, 4563,  4560 (Davenport to Chicago via Dekalb and Naperville Rt 59), 4566 (Davenport to Chicago via Dekalb and Naperville Rt 59), 4561 (reverse) and 4567 (reverse).

Dekalb is served by 4560, 4566, 4561, and 4567.

[artthouwill]

In other news Metra's UPNW will have another Service adjustment starting next week.

[busfan2847]

On 9/7/2021 at 11:31 AM, artthouwill said:

In other news Metra's UPNW will have another Service adjustment starting next week.

All UP lines are having adjustments from 9/12.

[geneking7320]

What was going on with Metra UP-North on 8/13/2021? There were a number of problems [delays cancellations and the like] and I was beginning to think Friday the 13th had something to do with them.

[artthouwill]

11 hours ago, geneking7320 said:

What was going on with Metra UP-North on 8/13/2021? There were a number of problems [delays cancellations and the like] and I was beginning to think Friday the 13th had something to do with them.

As @busfan2847stated,  all UP lines are getting schedules  adjusted.   Some trains are changing times, some are canceled,  some are added,  some have different starting points. I knew about IPNW and I recently found out about UPW.  

[busfan2847]

Some of the changes on UPNW are for unrealistic timings for one train set added on 7/12

It was running #6133 OTC 11:35am > Harvard 1:25pm; #6444 Harvard 1:35pm > OTC 3:23pm; #6211 OTC 3:35pm > Barrington 4:36pm. 10 minutes at Harvard and 12 at OTC seems too tight for PTC! I have caught #6211 twice - the first time it left OTC at 3:50pm and the second closer at 3:37pm

From next week #6133 leaves OTC at 11am and #6211 at 3:41pm allowing 20 minutes at Harvard and 18 at OTC.

The other changes include running #6100 in service from Barrington rather than starting in Des Plaines (I assume it overnights at Barrington anyway). Running #6188 10 minutes later on track 1 rather than the middle track (to avoid conflicts with #624 if  #6188 runs late) and running #626 5 minutes later. Finally #625 timings have been changed to reflect actual operation conditions - running 4 minutes earlier at all stops from Norwood Park to Woodstock.

[NewFlyerMCI]

https://www.metro-magazine.com/10141739/metra-challenges-industry-to-prototype-zero-emission-locomotives?utm_source=website&utm_medium=contentoffers&utm_campaign=092421

"Chicago’s Metra is challenging the industry to create a zero-emission commuter locomotive by converting an older engine from diesel to one powered solely by batteries.

The Metra board recently approved the issuance of a Request for Proposals (RFP) that will ask manufacturers to propose solutions to convert three of Metra’s older F40PH-3 diesel locomotives to zero-emission battery power. The RFP will be issued in the upcoming days; the contract is expected to be awarded in the fall and the first solutions should be delivered about 30 months later."

[NewFlyerMCI]

On 6/30/2021 at 10:27 PM, artthouwill said:

In other news  the Chicago Bears signed an agreement partnership with Rivers Casino as the official sports book sponsor.   Why is this important?  Churchill Downs is 51% owner of Rivers.  

How us this related to Metra?  Churchill Downs is also owner of the Arlington Park Racetrack which is for sale and the Bears are bidding on that property.  Speculation has the Bears on the inside track to win the bid and build a new football stadium on the site.  Metra UPNW gas a station right there.  Imagine express trains from Oglivie to the new stadium.   

So, those Bears Express trains from OTC with stops at maybe Clybourn and Jeff Pk might actually be a reality in 8-10 years lmaoooo!

[artthouwill]

48 minutes ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

So, those Bears Express trains from OTC with stops at maybe Clybourn and Jeff Pk might actually be a reality in 8-10 years lmaoooo!

Yes.  There is now a purchase agreement in place for $197 million.  If this happens,  the Bears will be the first of our big 5 sports teams to play home games outside of the city limits.  I guess they already are since they played two seasons in Champaign.

[strictures]

7 hours ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

So, those Bears Express trains from OTC with stops at maybe Clybourn and Jeff Pk might actually be a reality in 8-10 years lmaoooo!

Metra may be the only winner of the Bears moving to Arlington Park.  Since most of the games are on Sunday, they would have a huge number of spare trainsets at the Western Ave. coach yard to use that day.

[Smolensk]

Metra starts work to rebuild Grayland Station, replace bridge over Milwaukee Ave.

Metra broke ground Sept 30, 2021 on a complete rebuild of the Grayland station and the Milwaukee Avenue bridge on the MD-N line.

The new station will be longer, ADA-compliant, and have heated shelters on both sides.  The current bridge was built in 1899.  A temporary two-track bridge will be built to allow service while the permanent bridge is being installed.

Completion is scheduled for Spring 2024.

[artthouwill]

On 9/29/2021 at 11:25 PM, strictures said:

Metra may be the only winner of the Bears moving to Arlington Park.  Since most of the games are on Sunday, they would have a huge number of spare trainsets at the Western Ave. coach yard to use that day.

Western Yard serves the MD Lines and the NCS Line.  Arlington Park is on the UPNW line.  However,  they should still have ample cars for Sunday football games.  Monday night or Thursday night games might be a trickier situation. 

 

[strictures]

49 minutes ago, artthouwill said:

Western Yard serves the MD Lines and the NCS Line.  Arlington Park is on the UPNW line.  However,  they should still have ample cars for Sunday football games.  Monday night or Thursday night games might be a trickier situation. 

 

There are two Western Ave. coach yards.  There's the former C&NW yard & the former Milwaukee Road yard, with the city's auto pound between them at the west end.  

They are essentially merged into one & you'll see old C&NW coaches on the Milwaukee Lines & old Milwaukee Road coaches on the UP lines.

[artthouwill]

1 hour ago, strictures said:

There are two Western Ave. coach yards.  There's the former C&NW yard & the former Milwaukee Road yard, with the city's auto pound between them at the west end.  

They are essentially merged into one & you'll see old C&NW coaches on the Milwaukee Lines & old Milwaukee Road coaches on the UP lines.

Makes sense seeing that the UP cars have to be stored somewhere during the midday.  My main point really was that UP wouldn't have to borrow any cars from MD for Sunday service to Arlington Park for Bears games.

It Shane CN is so dogmatic about Metra adding any service in the North Central Service.   Otherwise. METRA could run some trains from Union Station via MD-W and NCS tracks into Desolaines  then switch to UONW tracks to Arlington Park.  This would facilitate easy transfers from Metra BNSF and MD lines.  The MD-N and UP-Nw tracks so intersect also, but unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a place to build a crossover connecting the 2 lines  

[strictures]

5 hours ago, artthouwill said:

Makes sense seeing that the UP cars have to be stored somewhere during the midday.  My main point really was that UP wouldn't have to borrow any cars from MD for Sunday service to Arlington Park for Bears games.

It Shane CN is so dogmatic about Metra adding any service in the North Central Service.   Otherwise. METRA could run some trains from Union Station via MD-W and NCS tracks into Des Plaines  then switch to UPNW tracks to Arlington Park.  This would facilitate easy transfers from Metra BNSF and MD lines.  The MD-N and UP-NW tracks so intersect also, but unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a place to build a crossover connecting the 2 lines  

In looking the UN-NW/ Mil-N diamond at Cicero/Sunnyside, it appears that at one time there might have been switches to allow transferring between the two lines, as the way the bridge over Cicero looks like it was designed for it.  If so, it would be easy to add the switches to permit this.

But considering the feud between Metra & the UP, I doubt it would happen.

[artthouwill]

1 hour ago, strictures said:

In looking the UN-NW/ Mil-N diamond at Cicero/Sunnyside, it appears that at one time there might have been switches to allow transferring between the two lines, as the way the bridge over Cicero looks like it was designed for it.  If so, it would be easy to add the switches to permit this.

But considering the feud between Metra & the UP, I doubt it would happen.

I would think that they could cooperate on this considering that UP doesn't operate any freights on the NW branch at all.  Maybe UP isn't RR that would object.

[NewFlyerMCI]

https://metra.com/newsroom/metra-starts-work-rebuild-grayland-station-replace-bridge-over-milwaukee-ave

[artthouwill]

2 hours ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

https://metra.com/newsroom/metra-starts-work-rebuild-grayland-station-replace-bridge-over-milwaukee-ave

For a suburban commuter agency, Metra's making a concerted effort to improve and modernize its inner city stations.  Not only that, but Metra's actually building new stations in the city as well.

I'm still interested in how the Cook County pilot is working on this ME and RI  in terms of ridership  increases, id any, and any effect on CTA ridership in the targeted areas. 

[NewFlyerMCI]

2 hours ago, artthouwill said:

For a suburban commuter agency, Metra's making a concerted effort to improve and modernize its inner city stations.  Not only that, but Metra's actually building new stations in the city as well.

I'm still interested in how the Cook County pilot is working on this ME and RI  in terms of ridership  increases, id any, and any effect on CTA ridership in the targeted areas. 

I think in this scenario, the station got lucky by being in the proximity of the bridge, although I agree with your overall point.

I don't think a tangible difference will be made on the ME (that said, I think the changes should be made permanent regardless), but I'd be a little surpised if there wasn't at least a tiny uptick in Beverly branch ridership on the RI. If it didn't end where it did, I think more people would use it recreationally.

[Sam92]

5 hours ago, artthouwill said:

For a suburban commuter agency, Metra's making a concerted effort to improve and modernize its inner city stations.  Not only that, but Metra's actually building new stations in the city as well.

I'm still interested in how the Cook County pilot is working on this ME and RI  in terms of ridership  increases, id any, and any effect on CTA ridership in the targeted areas. 

 

3 hours ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

I think in this scenario, the station got lucky by being in the proximity of the bridge, although I agree with your overall point.

I don't think a tangible difference will be made on the ME (that said, I think the changes should be made permanent regardless), but I'd be a little surpised if there wasn't at least a tiny uptick in Beverly branch ridership on the RI. If it didn't end where it did, I think more people would use it recreationally.

Honestly the Beverly branch is located in a place that has great potential. If pace is making 381 a pulse route that means west 95th is pretty busy so depending on how many of those riders are going all the way to the red line from west of the area those all can become new RI riders if metra bumped the trains on that side to 30 min frequency line the Union Pacific North I can see people giving it a go but you’d piss off the express train riders. Right now if you turned all the midday express trains into locals you’d have the 30 min headways right there but unlike the UP the RI express and locals run on separate lines so they can’t do something like it’s north side counterpart (have express trains stop at MAJOR city stop but still keep service in the same ROW since they just alternate. What kills any chance of RI getting any more ridership than it COULD is the fact that LaSalle station is in the middle of nowhere If you aren’t an office worker; if RI could get sent to Millennium then it could pull some magnificent mile riders that can potentially avoid a transfer at 95th to go further south and west.  Even better it wouldn’t compete with the red line extension. 

[Sam92]

5 hours ago, artthouwill said:

For a suburban commuter agency, Metra's making a concerted effort to improve and modernize its inner city stations.  Not only that, but Metra's actually building new stations in the city as well.

I'm still interested in how the Cook County pilot is working on this ME and RI  in terms of ridership  increases, id any, and any effect on CTA ridership in the targeted areas. 

Well you can refer to my reply to MCI for how the RI thing could do better. As far as metra being in the city; I’m for it at this point because COVID hurt them and they need a way to recover without the lost office commuter ridership. If we lose metra we’re gonna need a car or to uber to some of these suburbs. Also metra can actually help CTA with some load imbalances. UP-N could help out the purple line and brown line. If you could get Albany park brown line riders to take 81 to Ravenswood, then you could use western middle to position some browns to handle riders East of there seeing as adding browns is gonna pinch Kimball according to a cta capacity report. We know the green Line Lake branch is heavy compared to the SSM so UP-W could beef up and handle oak park riders to let green handle local service. That might have to be the new name of the game. Out with the “metra and pace should stay here” and let them help compliment and act as a quasi express to outlying “L” stations because express service helps not only speed service but also separate rider boarding to space people out and speed up service with separate stops. 

[NewFlyerMCI]

11 hours ago, Sam92 said:

 

Honestly the Beverly branch is located in a place that has great potential. If pace is making 381 a pulse route that means west 95th is pretty busy so depending on how many of those riders are going all the way to the red line from west of the area those all can become new RI riders if metra bumped the trains on that side to 30 min frequency line the Union Pacific North I can see people giving it a go but you’d piss off the express train riders. Right now if you turned all the midday express trains into locals you’d have the 30 min headways right there but unlike the UP the RI express and locals run on separate lines so they can’t do something like it’s north side counterpart (have express trains stop at MAJOR city stop but still keep service in the same ROW since they just alternate. What kills any chance of RI getting any more ridership than it COULD is the fact that LaSalle station is in the middle of nowhere If you aren’t an office worker; if RI could get sent to Millennium then it could pull some magnificent mile riders that can potentially avoid a transfer at 95th to go further south and west.  Even better it wouldn’t compete with the red line extension. 

Yeah, LaSalle St Station is what kills it more than anything. If I lived on 95th or 87th, I'd have a hard time making a case for the RI over the Red Line. Hell, it might even be easier to get off at 35th and hop on the Red Line there. This is also why I've said for years that more routes need to end at LSS, there's plenty of layover space for routes other than the 36 and it would actually facilitate getting more people on the train if there was a generic bus heading into the Loop every 5-7 mins. Bring the 22 and/or even the 147 over, that's got to be a bus leaving every 10 mins or better even on Sunday. Instant connection to the mag mile and everything.

[NewFlyerMCI]

11 hours ago, Sam92 said:

Well you can refer to my reply to MCI for how the RI thing could do better. As far as metra being in the city; I’m for it at this point because COVID hurt them and they need a way to recover without the lost office commuter ridership. If we lose metra we’re gonna need a car or to uber to some of these suburbs. Also metra can actually help CTA with some load imbalances. UP-N could help out the purple line and brown line. If you could get Albany park brown line riders to take 81 to Ravenswood, then you could use western middle to position some browns to handle riders East of there seeing as adding browns is gonna pinch Kimball according to a cta capacity report. We know the green Line Lake branch is heavy compared to the SSM so UP-W could beef up and handle oak park riders to let green handle local service. That might have to be the new name of the game. Out with the “metra and pace should stay here” and let them help compliment and act as a quasi express to outlying “L” stations because express service helps not only speed service but also separate rider boarding to space people out and speed up service with separate stops. 

Stops at 63rd and 35th on the SWS would actually go a great way towards improving city ridership. 35th would ofc see the majority of it's ridership on game days, but an entrance at 33rd would open up access to the community. And a quick cursory glance at 63rd shows that there's actually still a platform and canopy there. If fares were cheap enough, there would definitely be small market, since we know the Ashland branch is the busier of the two on the GLS. This all being said, I know there are plans to reroute the SWS, so I don't if this same section of track would still be used after that, but it's worth looking into imo.

[artthouwill]

5 hours ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

Stops at 63rd and 35th on the SWS would actually go a great way towards improving city ridership. 35th would ofc see the majority of it's ridership on game days, but an entrance at 33rd would open up access to the community. And a quick cursory glance at 63rd shows that there's actually still a platform and canopy there. If fares were cheap enough, there would definitely be small market, since we know the Ashland branch is the busier of the two on the GLS. This all being said, I know there are plans to reroute the SWS, so I don't if this same section of track would still be used after that, but it's worth looking into imo.

Obviously rerouting SWS to RI tracks would derail your idea.  Funny that we've heard about plans to move SWS to RI tracks, but no word on when the spur that's necessary to reroute those trains will actually get built.

If you ride the Ashland branch of the Green line,  you can actually see the platform for the old station at 63rd and Lowe.   I believe the SWS at that time was the Norfolk and Western.   I believe that the station closed in the early 1970s, which would've coincided with the demographic transition of Englewood from predominately White to predominately Black.  Add to that the opening of the CTA Dan Ryan line with much faster and cheaper rail service caused ridership there to plummet.  If Dan Ryan service killed Englewood CTA ridership, imagine what happened to commuter ridership.

[strictures]

18 hours ago, Sam92 said:

 

Honestly the Beverly branch is located in a place that has great potential. If pace is making 381 a pulse route that means west 95th is pretty busy so depending on how many of those riders are going all the way to the red line from west of the area those all can become new RI riders if metra bumped the trains on that side to 30 min frequency line the Union Pacific North I can see people giving it a go but you’d piss off the express train riders. Right now if you turned all the midday express trains into locals you’d have the 30 min headways right there but unlike the UP the RI express and locals run on separate lines so they can’t do something like it’s north side counterpart (have express trains stop at MAJOR city stop but still keep service in the same ROW since they just alternate. What kills any chance of RI getting any more ridership than it COULD is the fact that LaSalle station is in the middle of nowhere If you aren’t an office worker; if RI could get sent to Millennium then it could pull some magnificent mile riders that can potentially avoid a transfer at 95th to go further south and west.  Even better it wouldn’t compete with the red line extension. 

When I was a kid, you could go directly from LaSalle St Station to the Loop L.  That connection needs to be brought back.