Huh, an out of towner video review of METRA service to O’Hare…
Obviously, O;Hare is not the target market for that run.
Not a viable means of connecting ORD with the Loop.
What a wasted opportunity for Metra.
I’d take a taxi.
Seems like a lot just to get to the airport, I agree with NKP guy I’ll take a taxi.
Chuck
He pictures one solution: something like Stadler FLIRTs running around any freight traffic on that portion of line for the ‘off-peak’ operation. Is there heavy enough freight traffic there that ‘acceptable’ OSR-style delays would upset current of traffic?
Incidentally, note the relevance of the points he makes about the Blue Line for the general idea of running regional service in Interstate or other divided-highway medians…
I might be wrong, but not much freight traffic between Union Station on that line until it turns west, gets south of ORD at Bensenville yard.
Blue Line should figure out how to have express runs.
He says there’s literally no room to accommodate them, with only two mains.
You’d have to run a high-speed version of CTC, dodging the trains operating on both mains in coordination, through probably more power crossovers than installed at present. Probably some of the locals would have to stop (with other traffic bunching up behind) in order to make room if any trains are delayed unexpectedly.
I suppose you could build something like the Harbor Freeway expansion, or the Dual Contracts elevated expansion with the third track up in the air, for shuttle expresses to the airport. You could then provide dedicated equipment with adequate luggage facilities, etc. so it’s not just transit cars. Chicago’s not going to spend money for either…
Skip stops would help but they took them away c 2000. People complained they were confusing. I think maybe they were never taught how to read a map. Both my grandmothers knew how to use them and they only had grade school education.
I rode the Ravenswood and Howard line in the 70s. The A B and AB stops system was very clear.
How many skip-stops would be required between logical ‘origin’ stations for an airport service? Could a more limited-stop version of skip-stop be scheduled as the ‘preceding’ train for an airport express to allow a shorter net ride?
This is the third video about metra to the airport I’ve seen made the past year.
Coincidence or do these vloggers just copy each other for views?
If the will and money were available, ORD could have a train or shuttle tunneled in to a Terminal from the Milwaukee West Metra line as in many airports worldwide. Or more cheaply, an elevated shuttle as in Düsseldorf. But unlikely in my life.
It does not seem to me to be much distance from the METRA platform over to the airport ‘people mover’. That leads me to wonder what sort of system – tunneling, suspended, or at-grade – could shift passengers ‘in all weather’ with their luggage from a FLIRT-length zone on the METRA platform up to the boarding doors at that people-mover stop. That could easily be built in your or my lifetime…
Feasible yes. But accomplishing anything???
As direct as a new tunnel and route through the airport from the METRA stop, but orders of magnitude less expensive or time-consuming.
I should clarify. I meant it’s unlikely that anything will be accomplished in regard to a rapid service ORD to the Loop any time soon
Yah. We had a similar situation with ‘rail to the airport’ here, using the existing trolley downtown as a ‘feeder’ system; there is a relatively easy point where traffic could be diverted from Jefferson Street to ‘the first railroad route in Memphis’ and thence to a location close enough for dedicated shuttles to various locations including the ‘transit center’ and bus shuttles to the actual terminals.
What actually transpired was a city review that assumed the first best use of a ‘transit’ link was to help airport workers who could not afford a car a cheap way to get to work. So the trolley route was extended down some major streets, with major prospective traffic consequences and several substantial grades to be worked in all weather, through several neighborhoods ‘most in need’ of cheap trips. The result being a 40-minute ride, with a great many stops, for a trip that would take a bus under 15 minutes… with a price tag somewhere north of $4 billion in decade-ago dollars.
The perception that an airport line must be optimized to speed trips for the rich is likely going to remain a difficult ‘sell’ unless highly patronized. As noted, doing that over METRA with the right combination of vehicle capacity and scheduling frequency is going to involve special arrangements.
The existing Metra line could have express service easily as it makes very few stops other than Western Avenue. The key would be the shuttle connector near the airport. But that means a “two seat” operation. Most travelers demand “one seat” or nothing.