Presumably this would start as two extended turns of equipment servicing the regular stops on the West line. The issue we’ve discussed regarding this service is that some kind of limited-stop service would be needed to make the Rockford-Chicago through service “competitive”…
Can someone like Dan Peltier explain how the situation in Elgin is to be arranged?
Why aren’t you using screen names? You know that posting someones real name in a forum like this also throws it out to Google Search?
I am sure he meant the baseball player … [:D]
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/peltida01.shtml
Saw the news coming back home from work late this afternoon. Was somewhat surprised that it was Metra who was the successful bidder and not Amtrak. Had it been the latter, I would have at least held out a little bit of hope of eventually getting things extended to Dubuque or out to Waterloo on CN but we all know how anti-passenger rail CN tends to be.
I’m thinking this is in keeping with Metra’s wanting to become a regional rail operation, not just an in and out of the Loop commuter service. The two lines west of Big Timber (which is west of Elgin) run closely parallel for a distance. Probably a connection will be built there. With a top speed of 79mph west of Big Timber, stops from Elgin into the Loop would have to be few (maybe one?) for the train to make it from Rockford to the Loop in 95 minutes. Would be interesting if they build a Rockford station at the original site of the Galena and Chicago Union in Rockford adjacent to the river. City is trying to revitalize downtown. My grandfather had his Piggly Wiggly Midwest HQ office in the 7th St. east Rockford station building along the line in the late 30’s/early 40’s. The station still stands today. Rockford needs all the help it can get. High violent crime rate.
Because his screen name is ‘dpeltier’. Not rocket science to see that the incremental risk of malicious screen scraping isn’t that great.
Of course, if you’re concerned, why did you ‘double down’ by leaving his name intact in your quoted text?
Connecting track from Metra Milwaukee District West to CN needs to be installed.
It might be nice if this new battery electric were used.
https://fb.watch/lGXY9aQcVI/?mibextid=Nif5oz
After Elgin/Big Timber, stops in Belvidere, maybe Hampshire or Genoa.
no connection to CN needed. Using UP from Rockford to near Elgin. As I mentioned earlier, connection to UP could be easily made west of Big Timber where CPKC and UP closely parallel. No flyover needed.
Local Rockford paper says intermediate stops would be Belvidere, Huntley, and Elgin. Trains won’t be considered Metra commuter.
Pritzker approved Illinois funding.
New station in Rockford would be near S. Main St./Court St./Winnebago St. No problem having trains use Rock River bridge.
Northwestern station torn down late 50’s/60. Now a
I couldn’t ever mention rocket science and screen scraping in the same sentence.
However, I am more concerned with people doing a Google Search and seeing this discussion thread in their search results. In short the practice is troll bait.
How would that work? I heard they were buying new equipment. I think their current equipment gets rather tiresome if you have to sit on it longer than 60 minutes myself. Long ago they used to have single level pub cars on some runs but those are gone.
Someone asked an interesting question on another thread. Will Metra have to switch from right to left-handed running when it switches from the Milwaukee West Line to the UP Belvidere Subdivision at Big Timber? Of course the question is moot given the current arrangments since the Belvidere line is entirely single track with no passing sidings (just a yard at Belvidere) and no signals at present. In the future, however, there might be sections of double track. I suppose it depends on what UP decides, assuming it retains ownership.
No passenger service on this former C&NW line since the late 1940s or early 1950s. A lot of work to do.
Here is everything I knoe about the knew rockford metra service. It is supposed to be a express train. The terminal will be union station in chicago. The train should run at speeds of up to 79mph. 2 new stations will be built in rockford and belvidere and they will need to build a flyover at big timber to connect from the ex-Milwaukee tracks to the UP tracks.
Why would a flyover be needed for such a low-volume interchange? None at high-volume Western Avenue.
Flyover is an error. The former Milwaukee mainline bridges over the former Northwestern line west of Randall Rd. Only an at grade connection is needed east of Randall Rd.
Lament time. It would be cheaper to build and a better service if it were Rockford new Alpine Rd. station on the former IC. To Genoa. Connection with former Milwaukee Road there. There used to be one. On Milwaukee to Elgin and the Loop. IC was 79mph. MR was 90mph. If people would get along.
Some blame lies with CN, as I recall. Once they increased freight traffic on the former IC, they no longer wanted passenger services added.
Rather an interesting coincidence…read below link starting on page 4-15…“SLATS - The Beloit MPO Urban Area”.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dBlVj9u82S0k29JOFND3NpLqEgtDQgC0/view
Earlier in the study and of note is the former C&NW line from North Milwaukee to Fond Du Lac via West Bend where the rails are torn up is labeled “Interim rail trail”…meaning it’s only a rail trail now but they might restore it in the future back to rail use.
When you speculated in a similar manner in another thread regarding the bike trail through the Milwaukee North Shore suburbs, I vowed to buy you all you could consume in a single sitting of the beverage of your choice if the rails were ever relaid. I’ll double that offer for the day the West Bend to Fond du Lac trail gets railed over.
Yeah, I think West Bend would fight tooth and nail to keep what they have put in place downtown.