Random Metra

[busfan2847]

1 hour ago, artthouwill said:

Don't forget that the entire South Chicago branch of the Metra Electric us now a Zone B.

With the Cook County fare pilot, Metra Electric and Rock Island fares within the city limits is equivalent to CTA fares if I remember correctly.  I also believe the Cook County south suburban zone fares were also lowered on those lines.  I don't know when this pilot expires nor if it has had any effect on ridership.

The South Chicago branch has been Zone B since at least 3/1/1982 (ICG timetable). the previous timetable I have, 11/1/79, has the 87th and 91st St staions in Zone 3 (Metra C).

The South Cook pilot project reduced all fares on the Metra Electric and Rock Island Lines to the Metra reduced fare rates, a 50% reduction, starting 1/4/2021. I do not know when it expires.

[artthouwill]

32 minutes ago, busfan2847 said:

The South Chicago branch has been Zone B since at least 3/1/1982 (ICG timetable). the previous timetable I have, 11/1/79, has the 87th and 91st St staions in Zone 3 (Metra C).

The South Cook pilot project reduced all fares on the Metra Electric and Rock Island Lines to the Metra reduced fare rates, a 50% reduction, starting 1/4/2021. I do not know when it expires.

True.  I only mentioned these in relation to the point that zone fares were based on mileage from downtown but obviously these are outliers.

[NewFlyerMCI]

On 1/31/2023 at 2:16 PM, Tcmetro said:

I would imagine that the lower fares is a driver of why the ME has the highest post-covid ridership retention of any line on weekends. 

ME is much more convenient than 352 or 353 (or some other Pace combination) to the Red Line at 95th.

That ridership retention is probably a combination of what you stated and also likely because of frequency of trains, not convenience for suburban riders. Although, I suppose you could argue that frequency is convenience (or part of it at least). Every commuter/regional system with decent or better recovery are the systems that run frequently. MED has also had the best weekend recovery of all the lines as well, and the MED has always ran the most trains (although this may be comparable with other lines if broken down by branch).

IDK that 352 riders and MED riders are the same riders. One isn't really an alternative for the other. You have the:

• intra-cook county travel along a busy commercial corridor and thru neighborhoods, which also serves as a red line feeder option, with frequency above most, if not all Pace routes, and comparable with the average CTA route
• or
• Hyde Park & Loop travel, at less than ideal, yet serviceable frequencies depending on where you are along the line. Most stations are parking sewers and aren't in walkable areas, south of 115th

Different purposes honestly

[urbanguy0508]

Web maps showing Metra's lines overlaid on various Midwestern and Northeastern cities in the United States.

• https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=186hF4s8_h1Vxueh_gK0-BOsCvXEcVcQ
• https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1yUUEwX7I8Sr12UMJUdXqksFLVt7Cbfw

[Busjack]

8 hours ago, urbanguy0508 said:

Web maps showing Metra's lines overlaid on various Midwestern and Northeastern cities in the United States.

• https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=186hF4s8_h1Vxueh_gK0-BOsCvXEcVcQ
• https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1yUUEwX7I8Sr12UMJUdXqksFLVt7Cbfw

What's the point of that? That other than Detroit and Milwaukee, other cities have east sides?

[urbanguy0508]

10 hours ago, Busjack said:

What's the point of that? That other than Detroit and Milwaukee, other cities have east sides?

I was curious to see how the extent of Metra’s lines compares to other major metro areas.

[curiousgent31385]

I had a question regarding Metra trips like 627 on the UP-NW line (which terminates at Des Plaines) and 1245 on the BNSF line (which terminates at Brookfield).

https://schedules.metrarail.com/pdf/alternative/UP-NW.pdf

https://schedules.metrarail.com/pdf/alternative/BNSF.pdf

As these trips don't travel all the way to their line's respective terminus, where do the trains go after they reach the last station on the trip?

[Busjack]

1 hour ago, curiousgent31385 said:

I had a question regarding Metra trips like 627 on the UP-NW line (which terminates at Des Plaines) and 1245 on the BNSF line (which terminates at Brookfield).

https://schedules.metrarail.com/pdf/alternative/UP-NW.pdf

https://schedules.metrarail.com/pdf/alternative/BNSF.pdf

As these trips don't travel all the way to their line's respective terminus, where do the trains go after they reach the last station on the trip?

That's an easy one to answer, and it is the same answer as why there are short turns on CTA buses and trains--the passenger load is on the short portion of the route. There's no reason to spend the traimen's time (which is limited by federal law) and diesel fuel to go all the way to and from Aurora. Maybe it becomes the 4:39 from Fairview Ave.

I'm more familiar with the MD-N, which has a crossover in Deerfield. At least before COVID, the p.m. traffic started at Lake-Cook, and Metra tried to run service every half hour. No way it could do it if they ran all the way to Fox Lake, especially since that branch is single track.

BNSF also had express zones so other trains served the outer stations. For instance, 1243 runs express to Congress Park; 1245 runs right behind it as a local.

[busfan2847]

23 hours ago, curiousgent31385 said:

I had a question regarding Metra trips like 627 on the UP-NW line (which terminates at Des Plaines) and 1245 on the BNSF line (which terminates at Brookfield).

https://schedules.metrarail.com/pdf/alternative/UP-NW.pdf

https://schedules.metrarail.com/pdf/alternative/BNSF.pdf

As these trips don't travel all the way to their line's respective terminus, where do the trains go after they reach the last station on the trip?

UP-NW #627 travels on the center track from Clybourn to Des Plaines. After emptying at Des Plaines the train pulls through Deval almost to Cumberland station, again on the center track. It then changes end and switches to the inbound track at Deval to form #652 from Des Plaines to Chicago.

 

[citychris05]

Are there mile post designations for the at-grade street crossings in Metra's network? Or are mile post designations reserved for stations and stops only?

[Busjack]

2 hours ago, citychris05 said:

Are there mile post designations for the at-grade street crossings in Metra's network? Or are mile post designations reserved for stations and stops only?

They are usually on the signal cabinets and trackside marker signs. They are not at the stations; stations are just in zones.

[EdwardL803]

17 hours ago, citychris05 said:

Are there mile post designations for the at-grade street crossings in Metra's network? Or are mile post designations reserved for stations and stops only?

Here are two web maps displaying Metra's grade crossings. In the pop-ups for the points, there's a attribute labelled "MP." It stands for the mile designation for that specific grade crossing.

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?webmap=300e82f3841546fc9aa2a599599fcd80

https://gis.yesvirginia.org/datasets/11d2e5328c8c4383936b07eed9c2a871_0/explore?location=41.828164%2C-87.802087%2C13.59

[citychris05]

16 minutes ago, EdwardL803 said:

Here are two web maps displaying Metra's grade crossings. In the pop-ups for the points, there's a attribute labelled "MP." It stands for the mile designation for that specific grade crossing.

https://www.arcgis.com/apps/mapviewer/index.html?webmap=300e82f3841546fc9aa2a599599fcd80

https://gis.yesvirginia.org/datasets/11d2e5328c8c4383936b07eed9c2a871_0/explore?location=41.828164%2C-87.802087%2C13.59

Thanks for sharing. 

I noticed that the grade crossing at Raven Street in Chicago is labelled as having a "MP" of 11.09. However, the Norwood Park station is listed with a mile posting of 11.4.

 

 

 

[Busjack]

3 hours ago, citychris05 said:

Thanks for sharing. 

I noticed that the grade crossing at Raven Street in Chicago is labelled as having a "MP" of 11.09. However, the Norwood Park station is listed with a mile posting of 11.4.

 

 

 

Someone seems to be assuming a level of precision that doesn't exist. For instance, the station building is south of Raven Ave., so the mileage should be less.

[krzysiu221322]

Do track charts exist for Metra's 11 lines? If so, can they be accessed online?

[curiousgent31385]

Before they were converted into bike trails, were there ever plans to bring passenger service back to the former C&NW Skokie and Weber subdivisions?

https://www.chicagorailfan.com/abancnws.html

Did Metra (or even CTA) ever look into using these former rail lines for transit services?

[Busjack]

2 hours ago, curiousgent31385 said:

Before they were converted into bike trails, were there ever plans to bring passenger service back to the former C&NW Skokie and Weber subdivisions?

https://www.chicagorailfan.com/abancnws.html

Did Metra (or even CTA) ever look into using these former rail lines for transit services?

Most of it was yap about extending the Skokie Swift to Highland Park or into the Crosstown route. Was not going to happen.

Another thing in some Evanston books was that there was, at one time, passenger service on the Mayfair Cutoff, diagonally approximately from Green Bay and Simpson to Mayfair yard. First the passenger service and then the tracks were abandoned, but the abutments remain.

 

[artthouwill]

On recent rides on the UP-W, I noticed that the conductor is making all of the stop announcements.   Is this happening with the other Metra lines or is this specific to UP?  I know South Shore  Line conductors also make their own announcements.   I don't know if this change is related to the new schedule that has trains making all stops except for some rush hour teains.

[Busjack]

2 hours ago, artthouwill said:

On recent rides on the UP-W, I noticed that the conductor is making all of the stop announcements.   Is this happening with the other Metra lines or is this specific to UP?  I know South Shore  Line conductors also make their own announcements.   I don't know if this change is related to the new schedule that has trains making all stops except for some rush hour teains.

It's more likely that Metra is converting its GPS functions to Clever Devices and has not yet installed them on UP trains yet. The Metra Tracker also notes that it doesn't work for UP, and several other lines.

[EdwardL803]

While looking at this old aerial of the Norwood Park Metra station, I noticed there used to be a pedestrian crossing between the platforms.

https://hub-cookcountyil.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/dfc9621d3e3e45e8934445e1d11da686/explore

Why and when was this removed? Other stations on the UP-NW line (like Jefferson Park, Edison Park, and Park Ridge) still have pedestrian crossings. Is there a reason why these are still in operation while the Norwood Park one was removed? Were any other pedestrian crossings removed?

[artthouwill]

1 hour ago, EdwardL803 said:

While looking at this old aerial of the Norwood Park Metra station, I noticed there used to be a pedestrian crossing between the platforms.

https://hub-cookcountyil.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/dfc9621d3e3e45e8934445e1d11da686/explore

Why and when was this removed? Other stations on the UP-NW line (like Jefferson Park, Edison Park, and Park Ridge) still have pedestrian crossings. Is there a reason why these are still in operation while the Norwood Park one was removed? Were any other pedestrian crossings removed?

Not an expert or frequent rider of the NW line, but it makes sense for Jefferson Park and Park Ridge to have crossings in that those stations might have boarding on the center track.  Jefferson Park doesn't have a middle track access from street level.   I can't speak for Edison and Norwood Park, though I would imagine that they wouldn't have center track boarding.  Since they are also street level. I would imagine a mid station crosswalk wouldn't be necessary.

[strictures]

19 hours ago, EdwardL803 said:

While looking at this old aerial of the Norwood Park Metra station, I noticed there used to be a pedestrian crossing between the platforms.

https://hub-cookcountyil.opendata.arcgis.com/datasets/dfc9621d3e3e45e8934445e1d11da686/explore

Why and when was this removed? Other stations on the UP-NW line (like Jefferson Park, Edison Park, and Park Ridge) still have pedestrian crossings. Is there a reason why these are still in operation while the Norwood Park one was removed? Were any other pedestrian crossings removed?

I'm old enough to remember when Rogers Park had a track level crossing even though it's on an elevated embankment.  But then it had a nice old station house on the inbound side, which I believe even had an elevator in it & that was when there were three tracks, not the current two.

[EdwardL803]

5 hours ago, strictures said:

I'm old enough to remember when Rogers Park had a track level crossing even though it's on an elevated embankment.  But then it had a nice old station house on the inbound side, which I believe even had an elevator in it & that was when there were three tracks, not the current two.

Oh wow I didn't realize the Kenosha subdivision (or today's UP-N line) used to have three tracks. When was the third track removed? 

[Busjack]

50 minutes ago, EdwardL803 said:

Oh wow I didn't realize the Kenosha subdivision (or today's UP-N line) used to have three tracks. When was the third track removed? 

Don't have a date, but when the rebuild came up, and the single track idea was tried and failed, Metra said it would use the 3 track footprint to keep service going.

Also, there are currently 3 tracks in Evanston (at least in the area of Emerson St), with enough footprint for a 4th track (used to stage track panels). IDK if the 3rd track is connected to anything.

[strictures]

1 hour ago, EdwardL803 said:

Oh wow I didn't realize the Kenosha subdivision (or today's UP-N line) used to have three tracks. When was the third track removed? 

Track 1, along the west edge of the embankment was removed sometime in the 90s, due to the instability of the west side of the embankment.  There are a few places on the east side that also need reinforcement, such as was done around Berwyn Ave.