Metra is going to do an overhaul on the UP North Line up through Evanston. they want to convert the bridges down to two tracks. I’ve got a question. why don’t they rebuild the bridges to hold three tracks and build a third main? they could run Express trains from the suburbs as well as locals through Evanston all the way into Madison Street terminal (I HATE calling it Olglvee trnsportation Center). I know it may involve the changing of all 3 UP schedules but the other two lines have a third main on most of their lines, all of it for the Northwest line. People from the suburbs would be really happy when the extra minutes are shaved off by going in run 8 all the way From Evanston.
Ask METRA. It was their (no, it was RTA’s) planning geniuses who tore out the third main track back around 1980, AFTER RTA and CNW had concluded their purchase-of-service agreement.
First question I would as from the UP perspective…are there clearances with the bridges that restrict the movement of 20 foot 2 inch double stack trains on any track?
if you mean intermodal. then…i think so, but UP cam’t run any intermodal down the line because there’s not a connection to the other UP lines up to Kenosha unless it’s going south, then it’s at Lake Bluff. if you’re talking Metra cars, then my answer is definately.
The line in question is passenger only. Once upon a time, there used to be a connection with the 40th Street Yard up the Cragin Line and over the Weber Line via the interlocking at Mayfair. Both lines have been severely curtailed, and 40th Street has been gone for years. It was just north of what is now the diesel facility at M-19A. The third main on the Kenosha Sub went as far as Canal Tower in Evanston, only about 13 miles or so, vice the almost 30 miles out to Barrington on the Harvard Sub. I’m not overly familiar with the Geneva Sub because I don’t have to be. It’s not my operating territory other than as far as M-19A. I know somewhere past Kilbourn Avenue the Geneva reduces from three to two mains, but becomes three again around the west end of Proviso. I believe they’re planning on putting a third track back in there. Freight traffic used to enter the Kenosha Sub between Davis Street Station and Central Street Station (there was a wye) and they also used to run passenger trains over the Cragin and Weber eons ago. I’ve seen footage of trains in the late 40’s/early 50’s, light Pacifics shoving cars tender first past Clybourn. There were wayfreight jobs that switched industries all up and down through there. The last business disappeared within the time I’ve been here (since 1995). All freight traffic now on the Kenosha Sub enters the main at Lake Bluff, coming over from the Milwaukee Sub at KO on the Lake Sub. That all used to be double-tracked mainline, but the Lake is reduced to one and the Milwaukee Sub (ex-CNW New Line Sub) is single track north of KO.
Actually, RTA didn’t tear out anything - C&NW owned the line, and UP owns it today. It was C&NW’s operating department which figured out that, with some very minor schedule adjustments, the third track wasn’t needed to support the service and could be removed. RTA at the time didn’t have the expertise to work out something like this. RTA concurred and C&NW then tore it out. Keep in mind that a major reason for the third track on the Chicago-Evanston portion of this line had been the intensive, high speed intercity service that C&NW used to run over it. C&NW didn’t want these trains delayed by commuter trains (which, in those days, made many more stops than they do today). By 1980, the intercity traffic was all gone. You don’t pay to maintain infrastructure that you don’t need.
By the way, most Metra lines don’t h
The UP West Line goes to double track between River Forest and Elmurst, and again between West Chicago and some point west of Geneva. Metra paid to have a third track installed on the segment west of Geneva when they extended commuter service to