Skokie Swift To Old Orchard?

[jesi2282]

I Was Reading That The CTA Was Going To Extend The Skokie Swift (Yellow Line) To The Old Orchard Shopping Mall In The Skokie Area, This Would Explain Why The CTA Is Taking Out The Overhead Wires, Also To Run Other Types Of Cars On The Line. 2 New Stations Would Be Added To The Line. Is There Anyone Else With News To This?

[Guest Flammy]

There have been numerous studies done by the village of Skokie and the city of Evanston as well as by the CTA to enhance Yellow line service.

There are some site issues in Skokie, but putting a station at Oakton is a possibility and I do know that extending the line to Old Orchard is a longer-term goal--although I belive that the right-of-way is already publiclly owned. I have also heard of plans to theoretically extend the Yellow Line all the way to Northbrook Court! As there is a rail right-of-way that essentially runs parallel to the Edens, it seems feasible.

Evanston would want one at least one station on the enhanced Yellow Line--probably at Dodge (halfway between Oakton & Howard). There used to be a station there--there was also one at Asbury. Dodge might make more sense since there is better bus connections.

I believe that the Federal Transportation bill signed earlier this year had some funds to develop the yellow line--thanks to Jan Schakosky.

[trainman8119]

The CTA has long talked about extending the Yellow Line to Old Orchard...probably since the day the line opened. It will probably happen someday, if someone really comes up with the money to do it. The same thing with the Orange Line to Ford City. In fact, there are already destination signs with Ford City as part of the rolls. I am not sure it will ever get out to Northbrook though. Again, it has been discussed, but going there would take the CTA a long way out of the area it is set up to serve (ie Chicago and immediate suburbs).

The conversion to third rail operation was also something that had been a long time coming. Getting rid of the cantenarries on the trains allows equipment to interchanged easier when needed. I think part of the reason it took so long to get it done was in part the worry that it was at ground level (even though there are parts of the Brown and Blue lines at ground level).

[Busjack]

Skokie is the lead agency for the proposed extension to Old Orchard; there is a report at http://www.skokie.org/comm/2003%20Skokie%2...al%20Report.pdf.

The plan to run it to Northbrook was essentially killed by the opposition of the then Village President (who was a member of the CATS Council of Mayors). We unelected him, but that probably doesn't have any effect on the fate of this project. In any event, if there was demand, the offices in the Northbrook Court area could extend the Shuttle Bug system between them and the two Metra stations.

The origional draft of the North Shore restructuring initiative had a proposal to convert the ROW to BRT, and run the 626 bus route on it, but it was quickly stated that Pace was not planning to implement that.

The crossings have been paved over, and most of the tracks have been removed.