Random Metra

[Busjack]

1 hour ago, richii0909 said:

On another note... as many of you are aware the UP north has started up the bridge projects again... I noticed right after clybourn there is a crew and it appears they are filling in a gap off to the side west side by the bridge and after passing looks like another service with the same thing. Do they plan to add a new bridge at the furthest edge or whats the deal.

There's another Metra announcement on this.

Looks like they are trying to do the project by again trying to run on a single track, but this time not during rush hour.I wonder if they are putting bypasses around some bridges.

On your other point, looks like MotivePower is still around as a division of Wabtec.Looks like Metra is more into Progress Rail, which is the successor to GM ElectroMotive

[richii0909]

10 minutes ago, Busjack said:

There's another Metra announcement on this.

Looks like they are trying to do the project by again trying to run on a single track, but this time not during rush hour.I wonder if they are putting bypasses around some bridges.

On your other point, looks like MotivePower is still around as a division of Wabtec.Looks like Metra is more into Progress Rail, which is the successor to GM ElectroMotive

It appears that these could be by passes it was for the west side or normal outbound tracks by that clyborn bridge. Question was the east side track aka inbound bridges replaced? On the way uptown ravens wood the outbound tracks eventually skew over to the left and as you cross over bridges you can see old bridge in the middle. Just curious

[strictures]

8 hours ago, richii0909 said:

It appears that these could be by passes it was for the west side or normal outbound tracks by that clyborn bridge. Question was the east side track aka inbound bridges replaced? On the way uptown ravens wood the outbound tracks eventually skew over to the left and as you cross over bridges you can see old bridge in the middle. Just curious

Metra wants to ultimately move the Clybourn Station south to where the Finkl Steel property was.  There are two reasons for that.

1. They believe it will get far more passengers once that property is developed, especially if Amazon was to choose it, however unlikely that is.

2. Both Metra & the city want to replace the UP bridges over Ashland Ave., as they are an impediment to traffic & cause the occasional crash against those pillars in the street.  Straightening Ashland is a priority & the bridges are at the end of their lives.  I'm sure that would mean the additional replacement of the bridges over North Ave., which is constantly blocked due to trucks that get caught under it, it's very low clearance is a problem.  I'm sure that the Deering Bridge over the North Branch of the river is also over age & would also get replaced.  A few weeks ago, someone finally removed that ancient wooden siding that ran from just south of the Deering Bridge & northwest along the riverbank & hadn't been used in decades.

[richii0909]

Looks like ME has new signal system up and running. Also it seems the manual switches have not been replaced but some type of electronics have been added... maybe to report switch position.

[richii0909]

On the electric district and noticed two things.... conductor announcing all stop and also conducts said they would make all flag stops and no need to request one. A passenger asked the conductor what’s going on and they said we have an individual on the train. What does this mean exactly any thought?

[artthouwill]

9 hours ago, richii0909 said:

On the electric district and noticed two things.... conductor announcing all stop and also conducts said they would make all flag stops and no need to request one. A passenger asked the conductor what’s going on and they said we have an individual on the train. What does this mean exactly any thought?

Possibly one of the mainline trains that ow make all stops when theyME schedule was adjusted to give hourly service betweenKensington and 63rd.  Midday every other mainline train runs local.  You probably caught one of those.

Blue Island rush trains are the locals and Kensington locals run every two hours midday with the mainline local filling in the gap.  With this schedule added in with the S Chicago branch service, the HydePark stations now have midday service every 20 minutes.

[Busjack]

13 hours ago, richii0909 said:

On the electric district and noticed two things.... conductor announcing all stop and also conducts said they would make all flag stops and no need to request one. A passenger asked the conductor what’s going on and they said we have an individual on the train. What does this mean exactly any thought?

 

3 hours ago, artthouwill said:

Possibly one of the mainline trains that ow make all stops when theyME schedule was adjusted to give hourly service betweenKensington and 63rd.  Midday every other mainline train runs local.  You probably caught one of those.

Blue Island rush trains are the locals and Kensington locals run every two hours midday with the mainline local filling in the gap.  With this schedule added in with the S Chicago branch service, the HydePark stations now have midday service every 20 minutes.

Doesn't explain who the "individual" was, or more importantly why the gps announcement system was not used.

@richii0909: Do you have the train number or departure time from what terminal?

[richii0909]

2 hours ago, Busjack said:

 

Doesn't explain who the "individual" was, or more importantly why the gps announcement system was not used.

@richii0909: Do you have the train number or departure time from what terminal?

It was the 5:47 train from 211th to millennium. I ride this train daily didn’t notice it before

[Busjack]

1 hour ago, richii0909 said:

It was the 5:47 train from 211th to millennium. I ride this train daily didn’t notice it before

Train 136. The flag stops are on the schedule, but it doesn't explain what I questioned. It would seem like having to make all the flag stops would put it seriously behind schedule.

[MTRSP1900-CTA3200]

I’ve noticed that the conductors on train 630 (Harvard-OTC) make manual announcements as well, and they also tell customers to stop a passing conductor if they need a ticket for any stop before Ogilvie. Then they just collect all other tickets between Clybourn and OTC. However sometimes they leave the GPS on as well.

[artthouwill]

I wonder if there is a  correlation with automated announcements and flag stops. If no automation, then I supposemanual announcements  would be necessary  for ADA compliance.

[richii0909]

6 hours ago, Busjack said:

Train 136. The flag stops are on the schedule, but it doesn't explain what I questioned. It would seem like having to make all the flag stops would put it seriously behind schedule.

Hmmm you just made me realize something.... That train I took the other day was making the flag stops real fast and using two cars instead of 1. I noticed once we got to Hyde park stop conductor announced that you need to transfer there for all other stop.. train expressed to 11th street. Also there was another time recently in the evening that after 115 in local track I noticed something wasn't right... Try basically flew to 95th. The train was suppose to make flag stops but at the rate of speed it would of been an e-brake application to stop in time. The train did make flag stops but it was just very strange.

[Busjack]

3 hours ago, richii0909 said:

I noticed once we got to Hyde park stop conductor announced that you need to transfer there for all other stop.. train expressed to 11th street.

You have to look at the schedule. All 100 series trains run express from 53rd to 11th. What few riders are going to 47th or 23rd have to transfer to usually a 300 series train.

On your other comment, that's what flag stop means, The  train doesn't stop unless the operator sees someone on the platform.

[richii0909]

14 minutes ago, Busjack said:

You have to look at the schedule. All 100 series trains run express from 53rd to 11th. What few riders are going to 47th or 23rd have to transfer to usually a 300 series train.

On your other comment, that's what flag stop means, The  train doesn't stop unless the operator sees someone on the platform.

Ok thanks for that info I didn't know. Im familiar with the flag stop operation, but just never seen the train moving so fast (55mph) as if it were a express train.... maybe engineer had great line of site o well. Thanks again

 

 

[Busjack]

7 minutes ago, richii0909 said:

Ok thanks for that info I didn't know. Im familiar with the flag stop operation, but just never seen the train moving so fast (55mph) as if it were a express train.... maybe engineer had great line of site o well. Thanks again

 

 

Again you have to look at the schedule. Until train 143, mainline trains don't stop between 59th and Kensington, for the most part. Those are only served by 200s or 600s.There are a few additional stops for Mt. Carmel.

[artthouwill]

8 hours ago, Busjack said:

You have to look at the schedule. All 100 series trains run express from 53rd to 11th. What few riders are going to 47th or 23rd have to transfer to usually a 300 series train.

On your other comment, that's what flag stop means, The  train doesn't stop unless the operator sees someone on the platform.

To add to that, if you are on the train and want to get  off at a flag stops, you  must inform a conductor before your intended stop.

[Busjack]

11 hours ago, Anthony Devera said:

 

It might be nice to see the South Chicago branch of the Metra Electric converted into a light rail line, similar to the Gold Line plan from many years back. Though maintenance costs might be high, ...

The last one is the problem for several reasons:

• Metra would have to pay $4 million each for 2 or 3 units of equipment that it presumably doesn't need, given that the 186 electric cars are presumably enough to take care of demand, for the next 40 years.
• Metra would need a way to get them to a maintenance shop, and, again, stock parts for only those 2 or 3 cars.

Aside from those two, unless the line is to stop at 71st and Stony Island, which is nowhere, the LRVs would have to be allowed to go up onto the railroad right of way and the riders would have to be wiling to transfer to a main line train at 63rd or 59th. They used to during late night, but I see that the ME no longer runs owl.

[Anthony Devera]

1 minute ago, Busjack said:

the LRVs would have to be allowed to go up onto the railroad right of way and the riders would have to be wiling to transfer to a main line train at 63rd or 59th

I was thinking the light rail line would run all the way to Downtown and be operated by CTA rather than Metra. But yes, this would be too expensive.

Speaking of the Metra Electric, I also feel like the 27th station is a bit unnecessary now, considering Michael Reese hospital is no longer there, and I almost never see anyone getting on or off at that station Plus, the 23rd/McCormick Place station is not too far away.. The only way 27th could have a purpose is if the city somehow develops the land formerly occupied by the hospital.

[Busjack]

57 minutes ago, Anthony Devera said:

I was thinking the light rail line would run all the way to Downtown and be operated by CTA rather than Metra. But yes, this would be too expensive.

I was going to mention it in connection with the guy who was pushing CTA cars on the ME that in addition to that maybe tripling the equipment requirement, and the crush strength requirement, the cars would have to have PTC.

1 hour ago, Anthony Devera said:

The only way 27th could have a purpose is if the city somehow develops the land formerly occupied by the hospital.

That seems to be the case. I thought that the IC/ME was too slow when one had to take a 300 or 600 train to Hyde Park, and the recent schedule change having all trains stop at 53rd, 57th, and 59th at least takes care of that.

I wonder if pitching Amazon both Finkl Steel and Michael Reese puts a fork into rail improvements at at least one of the sites.

[geneking7320]

7 hours ago, Anthony Devera said:

I was thinking the light rail line would run all the way to Downtown and be operated by CTA rather than Metra. But yes, this would be too expensive.

Speaking of the Metra Electric, I also feel like the 27th station is a bit unnecessary now, considering Michael Reese hospital is no longer there, and I almost never see anyone getting on or off at that station Plus, the 23rd/McCormick Place station is not too far away.. The only way 27th could have a purpose is if the city somehow develops the land formerly occupied by the hospital.

I recently heard a rumor that the 27th station would be moved to 31st street. This may or may not have something to do with the development of the former Michael Reese property.

I've thought if the former Reese land were developed as a high income property the developer should kick in a few bucks for an accessible station with 29th and 31st street access.

Edited May 4, 2018 by geneking7320
included 29th

[richii0909]

Was in a old car today 7000 series what is this?

[MTRSP1900-CTA3200]

On 5/8/2018 at 7:31 PM, richii0909 said:

Was in a old car today 7000 series what is this?

 

Do they just have "MERC" printed on them?

[richii0909]

19 hours ago, MTRSP1900-CTA3200 said:

Do they just have "MERC" printed on them?

Yeah that was it they had little tips on them like an ionizer

[MTRSP1900-CTA3200]

5 hours ago, richii0909 said:

Yeah that was it they had little tips on them like an ionizer

Weird. I'm at a total loss, other than something that measures or changes the air quality.

[richii0909]

Just saw meta 7661 at KYD yard. It’s sporting a new paint scheme similar to all recently painted rehabbed locomotives. Very interesting and unique. I was on the wrong side of the train to catch a picture