Railroad Forums 

Discussion related to commuter rail and rapid transit operations in the Chicago area including the South Shore Line, Metra Rail, and Chicago Transit Authority.

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 #691496  by GWoodle
 
Mitch wrote:
MetraRy wrote:i think the whole idea is stupid. the cta should be focusing on residents of chicago durning the funding crisis, not out of state travelers. get the system working good for residents first. afterall we are the ones who pay for it!
Don't you think residents of Chicago fly out of Midway?
Don't forget that other monster airport:ORD. Becomes a north side/south side thing, like Cubs & White Sox.
Also depends on destination. AFAIK Midway is not an international airport (flights to Canada-Mexico don't count).
AFAIK there are no immigration facilities at Midway.
I was told 10 years ago the growth was supposed to be with international travel. That is what the new 3rd Peotone airport + freight (UPS-FedEx) was supposed to fix.
I doubt if United, American, are going to depart O'Hare any time soon.

The best way to link O'Hare with Midway may be to build some sort of north-south crosstown route near cicero or some other route. I see no need to route air passengers downtown.

As for access to the downtown State Street subway from the EL tracks, I don't know if a double cross would need to be built to connect the 4 sets of tracks.
 #691504  by oknazevad
 
GWoodle wrote: AFAIK Midway is not an international airport (flights to Canada-Mexico don't count).
AFAIK there are no immigration facilities at Midway.
Yes, it is international (flights from Canada and Mexico do count, as you have to go through customs) and it does have full customs facilities since its recent renovations. It is certainly nowhere near as busy, but then again it's also a lot smaller.
 #691549  by doepack
 
ExCon90 wrote:
Zanperk wrote:http://www.transitchicago.com/news/ctaa ... eid=127352
As part of the project, the contractor will build two short connecting tunnels and tracks that will link the existing Red and Blue Line subway tunnels with the new transit subway station.
This Brown Line pdf has a map of the block 37 layout. Northbound to northbound & southbound to southbound.
As a non-resident of Chicago, am I missing something here? If they build what's shown for Block 37 on that Brown Line link, aren't they losing half the slots north of Washington on the Red Line and south of Randolph on the Blue Line? What's that going to do to normal service on the Red and Blue Lines?
Nothing. Regular Blue & Red line service won't be affected. The proposed station for express service to both Midway and O'hare airports will be located underneath Block 37, in a subway along new trackage connecting the Blue and Red lines as shown in the link. Airport express trains to/from Midway will be diverted at 17th Junction to the State St. subway, connecting to the Red line in the subway just south of Roosevelt Rd. (this segment was once used by the old Englewood/Jackson Park Howard trains before the realignment). From there, trains will continue north to the new airport station, via the new connector to the Blue line at Washington...
 #691677  by ExCon90
 
Thanks for the reply -- but won't that mean they still lose a Red Line slot from 17th Jct. to the divergence at Washington? Or are they planning on additional (underground) trackage for that short segment? And what happens when the O'Hare train joins the Blue Line at Dearborn & Randolph? Doesn't that occupy a time slot that will no longer be available for a train from the Congress branch (I still call it that)? Outside peak hours there would probably be room for everyone, but I recall both subways being pretty fully occupied in rush hours.
 #691876  by doepack
 
It's possible that a slot or two for Red & Blue line trains could get bumped by the new express service during rush, but to compensate, certain Red line runs could be short-turned at Cermak (NB) or Grand & State (SB), for instance. On Blue, there are already trains that terminate at either UIC, Jefferson Park, or Rosemont during rush, plus with the headways being slightly less frequent than Red, additional short-turning on Blue may not be necessary. Keep in mind that this all speculative, and could be subject to change as conditions warrant...