Metra Service resumption and expansion

[artthouwill]

17 hours ago, renardo870 said:

Good evening. I was just wondering if there were any information on full weekday restoration of the NCS line and restoration of Saturday service on the SWS? It seems pre-Covid service has been restored on most lines and some have even expanded (BNSF and UP-N & NW). I believe there was a survey posted about improving service this past Spring. I'm just curious on what the results were and what's coming in the future. 

Metra was fortunate to get NCS to agree to the hourly service from O'Hare to Union Station.   I think the only reason CN played nice was to not ruffle the political feathers when they are going to need favors down the road.  Metra was sure to give thanks to CN for allowing the extra service. 

Not sure if there was enough demand to justify returning Saturday service on SWS.

[renardo870]

On 8/13/2022 at 5:32 PM, renardo870 said:

Has there been any talk of resuming all of Metra services back to pre Covid-19 levels and/or expanding service? I believe Metra had a survey for customers to fill out July 20th to Aug 5th. I know that Metra UP-North needs to have earlier service on Sundays and Holidays going to Waukegan or Kenosha...10:35 AM outbound departure is definitely too late as the other outbound departures begin as early as 4:50 AM to 6:40 AM. 

Amtrak Hiawatha Service 1st Outbound  Sunday train to Milwaukee leaves Union Station at 6:25 AM and the 1st NICTD South Shore train leaves Millennium Park at 8:40 AM towards South Bend, IN.

Finally after many years, someone in Scheduling answered my prayers. Thank you! 🙏🏾 🙌🏾 

https://metra.com/newsroom/metra-expands-up-north-weekend-service

 

[Sam92]

https://www.nbcchicago.com/traffic/transit/metra-to-significantly-expand-rock-island-service-next-month/3939231/?amp=1

This popped up in my news suggestions. Saturday and Sunday service will be the same on RI vs the sat. only trips. More Express trains will stop at 95th, 103rd and Gresham. On the Beverly Branch the Prairie and 123rd stations are dropping to rush hour. Otherwise board in Morgan Park at 119th

[Tcmetro]

The schedule is posted on the Metra page as well:

https://schedules.metrarail.com/pdf/alternative/RI/New Rock Island Schedule effective June 1_202605211048.pdf

[artthouwill]

Today was the first day of a scheduled adjustment in the Metra Electric.   The express zone trains are now going to stop at all three Hyde Park stations.  

[Sam92]

15 minutes ago, Sam92 said:

. Then there's the sudden urge to keep adding Hyde Park AND SC service on the ME (6 and 26 territory)which up until regional rail became more of a topic we all have said should be cta's business but NITA supports this so some south east restructuring seems to be slowly getting set up if this isn't strictly Obama center. 

Here's one thing I'm wondering... Up till 2018-2020 ish we all pretty much agreed gray line and anything in the city was cta and not metra's business especially if it results in duplicate services wasting resources. So since the move to interagency cooperation is a thing I'm not gonna nitpick and say "that's an all city line so it should be cta service" BUT if we're talking about efficiency is it possible some changes to #6 and 26 might happen to avoid duplication? At some point ME wants frequent service on even the branches going by the report someone else here posted 

[artthouwill]

5 hours ago, Sam92 said:

Here's one thing I'm wondering... Up till 2018-2020 ish we all pretty much agreed gray line and anything in the city was cta and not metra's business especially if it results in duplicate services wasting resources. So since the move to interagency cooperation is a thing I'm not gonna nitpick and say "that's an all city line so it should be cta service" BUT if we're talking about efficiency is it possible some changes to #6 and 26 might happen to avoid duplication? At some point ME wants frequent service on even the branches going by the report someone else here posted 

Rush hour frequency in Hyde Park can be between 4 and 15 minutes with midday service averaging around 20 minutes or so.  Perhaps it's related to the Obama Center but Metra does have decent ridership in Htde Park .  With summer events it actually might be the better option ..  

 

But u also think urs a reflection of poor ridership south of 59th Street when all if the exoress zone trains have room to stop at all three Hyde Park stations.  We know how abysmal the ridership is on the branches.  Heck Blue Island branch barely gets 30 minute frequency in the rush hour.  Once upon a time thus branch had exoress service.  Now it's the Kensington/Blue Island local 

[Busjack]

7 hours ago, Sam92 said:

Here's one thing I'm wondering... Up till 2018-2020 ish we all pretty much agreed gray line and anything in the city was cta and not metra's business especially if it results in duplicate services wasting resources. So since the move to interagency cooperation is a thing I'm not gonna nitpick and say "that's an all city line so it should be cta service" BUT if we're talking about efficiency is it possible some changes to #6 and 26 might happen to avoid duplication? At some point ME wants frequent service on even the branches going by the report someone else here posted 

 

57 minutes ago, artthouwill said:

Rush hour frequency in Hyde Park can be between 4 and 15 minutes with midday service averaging around 20 minutes or so.  Perhaps it's related to the Obama Center but Metra does have decent ridership in Htde Park .  With summer events it actually might be the better option ..  

 

But u also think urs a reflection of poor ridership south of 59th Street when all if the exoress zone trains have room to stop at all three Hyde Park stations.  We know how abysmal the ridership is on the branches.  ..

According to the new schedule that's what the frequency is. Which raises several points. I preface it by saying that I didn't believe in regional rail, but that's what got written into the NITA Act. I understood that the main idea behind the Gray Line (aside from the cars already sitting in the yard across from Soldier Field) was 25 cent transfers to the CTA system, but Mike Payne couldn't figure out why CTA would have the incentive to pay Metra to transport CTA passengers. Maybe NITA overcomes that. But...

...I said that the way to test the concept was to cut off whatever was the Jeffery or South Lake Shore Dr. bus at 71st and make the passengers transfer to the ME there. That obviously wouldn't work now, as the frequency is 1 hour off-peak and about 20 minutes rush. That would mean that any transfer point would have to be at Lake Park and either 56th or 53rd. The only regular express buses that go near there are 2, 6, and 28 to Union Station. Given modern standards, they would have to build an intermodal terminal.

BTW, the Obama Center didn't create ridership in Hyde Park--the disdain of those associated with the U of C toward the CTA did. Going back to about 1972, when the IC instituted the zone express system, there was a big stink when Hyde Park was only served by South Chicago and Kensington local trains (and usually not Highliners), and that was rectified only in recent times.