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

Moderators: metraRI, JamesT4

  by doepack
 
With CN's purchase of the EJ&E approved (though not official yet for at least a few more weeks), they could soon begin their proposed plans of diverting much of their traffic off of their N/S mainline at Leithton (in Mundelein, where CN currently connects with the "J", about two miles south of the Metra depot). Eventually, the local turn out of Schiller Park serving customers in the northern suburbs, plus thru freights headed to/from Clearing via the Belt would be pretty much the only freight traffic that would remain. If traffic does dwindle down to those levels, it could be possible for Metra to add perhaps up to ten trains to this line, with a possible emphasis on the addition of more midday and later evening service. Or at the very least, the extra capacity should allow train 120 (currently the last inbound of the evening) to stay on its NC route the entire time, instead of having to use the C&M sub southbound via that funky detour at Grayslake.

OTOH, while less freights on NCS could be good for more service, adding freights on the "J" could cause more delays on UP/W, Milw/West, and the Rock, at least theoretically; while no effect to Metra's planned STAR line is expected. CN says they've addressed this, among other issues, in their environmental impact studies, but it's still something that bears watching because as we know, what looks good on paper doesn't always translate to reality. And I'm still not sure what, if anything, CN did to placate the Barrington residents, who have been the most vocal in their disapproval of the purchase. They've vowed to fight on, but it's pretty much just stall tactics and window dressing at this point, it will have no effect on the outcome...