I was brosing through www.metrarail.com . I was wondering witch lines are going to have schedule changes. This time they look to be very good timings for passengers. There is also a new line opening up going from Chicago Union Station to Manhattan. Check it out here is the link.
Thanks for posting that Weez, I’ve looking for the new UP West Line schedule. I’ve got a dispatching board setup (SCC) for the UP Geneva Sub (West Line) and I can see that I’ve got some work to do in updating the commuter schedule. The entire inbound schedule has changed dramatically.
CC
No problem any Metra schedule you need i can find!
Now, if Metra would run one to Manhattan, NY! They’d probably do a good job with it.
And extend ex-MILW west from Elgin to Genoa; then ex-IC Genoa to Perryville or Alpine Rds. at southeast Rockford. That would be a winner.
And Elburn to Dekalb (Northern Illinois Univ.). (All the other large universities in Illinois are served by rail).
I’ve always agreed with that, plus when I’m with my dad’s parents in Sycamore Metra will be closer[;)]. I asked my dad why they don’t extend to DeKalb, he said that they did a test run once a while back, but not many students took it…so who knows!
It does seem logical for service to be extended out to DeKalb, and I’m sure there are others in that community who would appreciate it–not to mention folks in Maple Park, Cortland, and probably Sycamore. But DeKalb County would have to become a member county in the Regional Transportation Authority for this to happen, I suspect. I’m sure that if Metra financed a third track out to DeKalb, UP would be happy to oblige them!
The service to Manhattan isn’t entirely new–it is just an extension of the line that has gone to Orland Park until now.
Yes I agree with you here!!! When I first read this thread I was a little bit confused as to why Metra would be runing trains from Union Station all the way over to Manhattan in New York. Anyway, I think Metra would do a good job of runing the transit system over in New York City, they would do a better job than Metro North. Forget New York, Metra needs to operate over here in the great city of Philadelphia!!!
The thing I like the most is the North Central line. Back in 1987, this line saw one, maybe two trains a day at most. Now, with 20 Metra and 30-35 CN trains a day, this is probably one of the busier lines in SE WI and NE IL. Last time I was down there, much of the line has now been upgraded from single track to double and triple track (in spots). More triple track will be added between Wheeling and Prospect Heights in the coming months.
Amazing turnaround for this line, eh?
Randy
You are not kidding about that. Seems to me that sometime in the 60’s or 70’s. The Illinois Commerce Commission got on the Soo Line big time to do some track work or take a hike. It was the worst of a lot of bad in the area.
Jay
Quote by Tomtrain:
Metra’s interest in extending the Milwaukee West District beyond Elgin/Big Timber is Huntley (and maybe Marengo), not Genoa. I read this plan online somewhere, but I didn’t save it. Two new connections would be built to connect to the UP (ex CNW) Belvidere branch to the Milwaukke West Dist. One connection would be just east of the Fox River in Elgin and the other connection would be west of Big Timber Rd where the two lines cross. The UP Belvidere branch would be abandoned through Elgin. Huntley and Marengo are in the six county Metra region, Genoa is not.
The pipe dream for Metra is to extend service all the way to Rockford (currently, not in the Metra region). Creating commuter service on the Belvidere branch to Rockford would serve the rapidly growing community of Huntley, the railroad museum at Union, Marengo, Belvidere/Chrysler plant, Cherry Valley and Rockford. A connection to the IC would be built in Rockford allowing access to the old IC Rockford depot. That’s about a 25 mile extension and the project might depend on how much it costs to upgrade the Belvidere branch to passenger train standards.
Huntley, yes, it’s going to happen. When? Soon, the area is booming and alternate transportation is going to be needed. Genoa, no. Hampshire (far western Kane county), maybe.
CC
Speaking of pipe dream, studies are going on now to extend the Union Pacific North line from Kenosha all the way to Milwaukee, with about five or six intermediate stops. I also believe there were ideas being floated around to extend the North Central Service all the way to Burlington, WI.
Randy
The service upgrade on the Southwest Service (my ride) is a virtual doubling of trains to and from Orland Park with two additional runs in each direction to Manhattan, which is the end of track. There is probably be some fine-tuning of these schedules in the foreseeable future.
They’ll do what they do. http://www.transystems.com/transit/commuter%20rail.pdf
For Winnebago county (Rockford), they’re taking the long way around using the G&CU to Marengo.
The Chrysler plant wouldn’t be a draw for rail commuting. The city of Belvidere thought it was going to boom when the plant was built there in the 60’s. Didn’t realize that the workers would drive to it from all over the region, and not live in Belvidere.
Going into the S. Main depot in Rockford is a loser. Rockford’s been shooting itself in the foot forever. People are moving to the region from the Western 'burbs and driving I90, because of lower house prices, and for now less hassles.
There’s Chicagoland and then there’s “Downstate”. Rockford is “downstate” even though it’s west. Up until about 10 years ago, it was the second largest city in Illinois (for decades). But downstate gets the crumbs.
Rockford’s center is the east side. A fast run from the southeast side to Elgin and into the loop past O’hare would serve Rockford well.
Quote by: Tomtrain
I agree… but the trains go (or at least they should go) where the people are, or are going to be. Using the UP Belvidere branch would serve a larger market. Like I said in the previous post, the Huntley area is booming and Rockford is still just a dream. I’ll even go on record to say that I think the next project for Metra will be an extension to Huntley. As the suburbs of Chicago continue to move west, I would expect the Metra region to expand to Boone and Dekalb counties around 2020.
Somebody save this and we’ll see how much of my foot is in my mouth,
CC
PS… Maybe the G&CU wasn’t going in the wrong direction after all!
Establishing the RTA in 1974 was a major accomplishment in its own right, the overwhelming majority that voted for it in Chicago offset those who voted against it in the collar counties. Expanding the service area to include Boone, Winnebago and Kendall counties would require legislation by the General Assembly, not a sure deal by any stretch, and getting the voters to approve it would definitely not be a sure thing.
That would probably be the best way to pass it. Pu***hrough a new expansion to RTA and set it for Winnebago, Boone, DeKalb, and Kendall Counties. I think you have a better chance going by several counties than trying to pass it county by county. Anti in one county would offset the pro in the other county. Living in DeKalb I would vote for it but I know there would be several that would vote against it on the basis of it being to suburban like.
With NIU here Metra will come to DeKalb but I don’t think it’ll be for another 10 year minimum. At least now I can save roughly 10 mile on my car.
A few things I noticed while perusing the new schedules for our (UP west) line–after all, I am a sometimes-user of these trains!
Sunday service has been increased from seven round trips daily to nine, all nicely spaced two hours apart. Saturday service has the same schedule as Sunday, except for an additional round trip in the morning: ten round trips daily, same as before, but with the otherwise-consistent two-hour spacing.
Sunday service has also been restored to Maywood and Melrose Park, which lost their Sunday scoots during the last major schedule change.
New non-rush schedules are based on the same departure times from Chicago, with equipment going out to Elburn and returning 30-35 minutes later than before to Chicago (this in spite of the fact that most crews will originate in Elburn). The midday schedules are also slower than before, probably to accommodate bicycles (for example, the midday commute to Lombard, 20 miles from Chicago, will take an additional three minutes).
In a perhaps serendipitous move, one place where eastbound and westbound trains will meet is Elmhurst. This will give the dispatchers only one slightly-longer period per hour in which they can’t send freights out of Proviso, instead of shorter periods half an hour apart. The times at Elmhurst are one minute apart for the eastbound and westbound trains; I suspect that there will often be times when a photograph of two trains at the platforms would be available.
I’ve also been checking out the new UP West schedule…
Quote by CShaveRR:
Don’t foreget about the freight train interference.
Another quote by CShaveRR:
I can’t wait to see what happens when the East End/DS 11 instructs a westbound scoot that they’re going be using the north platforms at B & B around a UP freight stopped on track2 waiting to go up the hill to the IHB, or around a UP freight that has just come down the hill off of the IHB. The eastbound scoot will have to hold at Elmhurst. There are only two main tracks between Elmhurst and River Forest. This area could become a big bottleneck - running the gauntlet.
I’m surprised that Metra didn’t try to use track2 (center track) between W Chicago and Elmhurst for a couple of express trains during the morning/evening rushes. I thought that an Elburn, LaFox, Geneva, W Chicago & Oak Park run would justify that type of service. I guess that the UP wasn’t willing to give up there parking spaces at Finley Rd or County Farm Rd.
CC
As I fly from NY into O’Hare several times a year, the planes tend to land on runway 27R, right over the ex-Soo/WC line. The improvements are really noticeable from the air.
BTW, as an ex-Chicagoan, I’m interested in how has the proposed Elgin, Joliet and Eastern (EJ&E) route fared. I don’t see it on Metra’s map.
Well, yes and no. A lot of people tend to call it an “extension of Metra”. While it will be an extension of the Metra brand name into Wisconsin, it will be under the authority of a regional transportation authority based in Wisconsin. Just to clarify.
The Kenosha-Racine-Milwaukee line is already well under way toward actually running trains, barring a complete collapse of support somewhere. (It’s southeastern Wisconsin, it very well could happen, not unlike state support long ago for a railroad that came from the other direction, which collapsed when someone pointed out that the railroad hauled freight…) The Burlington “expansion” is probably considerably less under way, though it’s not a bad idea, but then again why not extend both lines out to the Duplainville area? It would complete a “loop”, and Duplainville would make a neat place for a coach yard…
Now that’s a pipe dream! [;)]