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Is there anyway to speed up L trains in Chicago and make real rapid transit?

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  • Member since
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Is there anyway to speed up L trains in Chicago and make real rapid transit?
Posted by Bonaventure10 on Monday, August 19, 2013 10:57 AM

Its like 50 min to Evanston (I could meet a nice girl on the L here have children and retire before I get to the end of the lineStick out tongue.)..The L system outside of the Midway and O'Hare lines is slow as molasses because it was built at a time when no one had cars and stops at every intersection. I would eliminate half the stations. Skip stop was said not to work. The other alterative would be a express track that would cost billions of $$$$$$. But closing stations would be a political nightmare and suicide for the mayor. Biking on the waterfront is faster and seemed to be the answer from the former mayor Daily

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Monday, August 19, 2013 2:02 PM

CTA rapid transit equipment has been built for maximum speeds of 55 MPH.  This is quite similar to most other urban rapid transit operations and a higher top speed is meaningless when most stations are about a half-mile to one mile apart.  CTA did close a lot of stations shortly after it took over transit operation in 1947.  Also, there was a lot of complaining about station closings at the time the Green Line was rebuilt.

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
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Posted by richhotrain on Monday, August 19, 2013 2:13 PM

Bonaventure10

 Biking on the waterfront is faster and seemed to be the answer from the former mayor Daily

Mayor Daily ????????????????     Ick!

You can't be from Shi-caw-ga.   Dead

It is Daley, my friend.   Sigh

Rich

Alton Junction

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Posted by BaltACD on Monday, August 19, 2013 6:05 PM

First you redesign the population, work centers and traffic flow in the Chicago metro area and space out the stations so there is more running at higher speeds between stops.  No problems there! [/sarcasm]

The more popular something becomes the more it's capacity is stressed and slower things get as there is more compeition for a finite amount of resources - and when there is competition for resources, someone is going to have to wait for the resource to become available to them.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by daveklepper on Tuesday, August 20, 2013 6:02 AM

Isn't there an Evanston Express service?  Possibly it should be full-time, not just rush hours?

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Posted by Bonaventure10 on Tuesday, August 20, 2013 5:32 PM

The solution is closing stations and remaking the bus service to feed into the new stations. Seems just like NYC CTA bus and train divisions dont talk to each other well.

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Posted by daveklepper on Wednesday, August 21, 2013 5:10 AM

In addition to running the Evanston Express full time (OK except weekends and nights) the southside el could use the center track for northbound expresses in the AM and southbound in the PM.   Englewoods could be the expresses and Robers Parks th locals.

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Wednesday, August 21, 2013 6:48 AM

The Evanston Express used to run until noon on weekdays.  Current track arrangements, especially south of Fullerton, preclude any real time savings.  As far as the South Side main (the south leg of the Green Line) is concerned, the center track was out of service for years and was removed during the rebuilding in the 1990's.

There is no Roberts Park line on the L.

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul

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