http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-metra-meeting-met-20141212-story.html
C&NW, CA&E, MILW, CGW and IC fan
schlimm http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-metra-meeting-met-20141212-story.html
[snipped]"...The cost of completing the project is estimated at $952 million, said William Thompson, an official with the American Association of Railroads and CREATE's chief engineer.
The immediate need is for $75 million to begin design work on the project. Even with the money in hand, the project is at least seven years from starting, Thompson said.
Previous CREATE projects have been funded with a combination of state, federal, local and railroad contributions.
Several different freight rail lines, including the Norfolk Southern, CSX, Belt Railway and Union Pacific, converge in the area, located north of 75th Street between Kedzie Avenue and the Dan Ryan Expressway..."[snip] (emphasis, mine)
The CREATE Project has been a talking point around Chicago ( and its political environs) for a number of years. It would seem apparent, that the above listed problems are not new.
It would appear that rather than face these needs in a piecemeal manner, it would have been prudent to have outlined the projects, and improvements from the start; to coordinate the plan in stages, funding those stages to prioritize them and move those stages along to a final compleation.
The way the article presents this' new problem' is as if it had not existed until the just finished' fly over' was finished and in use. and then as the article states, this next 'phase will take another seven years to finish(?)' Will not there be another set of problems to resolve? Maybe that is their local way of facing problems, and then dealing with them( sort of a system of ('If we ignore a problem for long enough, til it gets so big, and bad; people will not complain at the massive amounts of funding, and disruption to daily life it causes')
I am just curious about this; Is this a facet of the problem that is causing the snarls to rail traffic that are occuring in northwestern Indiana, and on into Michigan?
an observaton would be, if the snarls to rail traffic are so bad in Chicagoland, would it not be cost-effective to create a viable by-pass routing around the problem area for through traffic, and let the city sort out its own internal traffic problems?
CREATE and all it's attendent projects were specified over a decade ago, however, funding for all the projects was not obtained at that time. Projects have been funded on a one by one basis over time. Needless to say obtaining the the public portion of the funding has been the problem over the years.
While this is made to seem like a new project, I suspect it is on the original CREATE plan.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
samfp1943 an observaton would be, if the snarls to rail traffic are so bad in Chicagoland, would it not be cost-effective to create a viable by-pass routing around the problem area for through traffic, and let the city sort out its own internal traffic problems?
The final EIS on the 75th St CIP was published some time ago. It took from 2004 to 2014 to get through the EIS process. Now all that has to happen is for someone to pay for it... See http://www.75thCIP.org for detailed info.
blue streak 1 samfp1943 an observaton would be, if the snarls to rail traffic are so bad in Chicagoland, would it not be cost-effective to create a viable by-pass routing around the problem area for through traffic, and let the city sort out its own internal traffic problems? This question has been poised before. Why isn't there a common dispatch center for the whole Chicago area? BNSF & UP have combined with a few smaller RRs to create such a system in Los Angeles area and Houston. Believe NS & CSX have considered the same for the Atlanta area. It is a snarl when a train might go thru 3 -4 dispatchers in a very short distance. No wonder sometimes an Amtrak route will be delayed and other times way ahead of timetable schedule. Example: is Housier and Cardinal route. Is it one RR or several that are balking and if so which ones?
When CSX was centrailzing their Dispatchers in Jacksonville, the Chicago Terminal office got within 1 day of being moved. Chicago dispatchers had sold and bought homes in expectation of the move. The day before it was to be effective, the move was cancelled in the anticipation and expectation of the development of a all carrier Chicago area dispatching office. This was in the 1990's. Still no Chicago area dispatching office with all carriers participating.
blue streak 1 BNSF & UP have combined with a few smaller RRs to create such a system in Los Angeles area and Houston.
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BaltACD CREATE and all it's attendent projects were specified over a decade ago, however, funding for all the projects was not obtained at that time. Projects have been funded on a one by one basis over time. Needless to say obtaining the the public portion of the funding has been the problem over the years. While this is made to seem like a new project, I suspect it is on the original CREATE plan.
http://www.75thcip.org/resources/DEIS_docs/75th%20St%20CIP%20-%20Summary.pdf
"The 75th Street CIP includes four CREATE Program elements originally identified as separate components of the CREATE Program but which were subsequently determined to be linked logistically and environmentally, and are now all addressed in this single Environmental Impact Statement (EIS):"
Since most of thse projects appear to be oriented mainly to benefit passenger operations and grade-crossing removals / separations, I'm not surprised that the freight railroads don't seem real interested in this project, at least not to the level of advancing a lot of the funding for it. In view of the freight railroads now collectively spending several $Billion each year on capital improvement/ capacity expansion projects - above and beyond mere replacements of long-term assets that have worn out, and the PTC signaling mandate - they could make this happen if they want to, esp. since it would be spread out over 7 years ($136 million per year on average).
- Paul North.
It would not make a difference.
An "expensive model collector"
The plan moves some Metra trains from Union Station to La Salle Street Station. Does this do in Union Station?
David1005 The plan moves some Metra trains from Union Station to La Salle Street Station. Does this do in Union Station?
Not even remotely. The only Metra trains that would move from CUS to La Salle Street would be the Southwest Service to Orland Park/Manhattan, which is 20 round trips daily. BNSF, MILW and Heritage Line (Alton/GM&O) would continue in Union Station.
I personally believe that the re-route of Southwest Service to La Salle Street would be a public relations nightmare since the new connecting line is planned to be built through a Chicago park, with all of the court battles and political battles that it would entail.
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