New Electric District Railcars

Here's an interesting semi-related topic:
If the Rock Island district is as busy as the Electric district (or close to it) who nominates all LaSalle street service to be electrified? I do!
1. I love electric MU's.
2. Coal power for electric MU's is way cheaper than oil power, and it would be a good way to increase capacity and increase efficiency - something that has benefits for both political parties.

Nice idea, but impractical. Electrification has a very high initial cost -- higher than I think any politicians would approve. Additionally, think of how many new M.U. cars would have to be purchased to equip the line. Very costly, especially when you consider that much of the Rock's push-pull fleet has already just recently been replaced. And then there's all the people who will complain about electric trains being unreliable.

I like that idea too, and would support it if it ever had the possibility of actually happening, but like MikeF said, politicians, rolling stock, and NIMBYs would probably prevent it from happening. I think, however, that if it did happen, it would be a far more efficient operation, especially on the Beverly branch. The stops in that area are so frequent that it would make a lot of sense to have MUs running on it using regenerative braking, which would save a bundle on energy costs. I wouldn't be suprised if the current bilevel fleet on the RI needs its brake shoes changed more often than any other line on the system because of that branch. And who knows, the resident might actually approve, seeing as how electric MUs are much quieter than diesel locomotives.

Electrification, when done on a 12 or 25kv 60hz system, by a decent contractor, can come in under 1 million a track mile. When you look at the costs of other things, like signalling, etc, it's not as expensive as it sounds...

Rolling stock? No need to replace it, just buy a few locomotives like ALP-46s or such. 8000hp, very quiet, 100 tons. 12kv or 25kv operation.

Oh yeah, once the system's up and running, electrics are a lot cheaper to run, and a LOT cheaper to maintain.

I'm amazed (well, not really) Metra hasn't looked into electrification. It'd do a <b>lot</b> to improve speeds, and quieter, faster operation would attract a lot more riders. For the size of Metra, it's ridership actually isn't spectacularly high - it's the size of the LIRR and Metro-North combined, but not even the ridership of one of those on their own (MN's ridership is now only slightly behind the LIRRs, by a few thousand pax boardings a day).

Here's an interesting idea: electrify only the RI suburban line, and run it as a continuation of the IC Blue Island branch. That's a way to electrify only the densest traffic areas, and have thru service to downtown over a little-used branch (IC Blue Island). Trains would depart Randolph, proceed non-stop thur Kensington, make some or all Blue Island branch stops, then proceed up the Suburban branch on RI to Gresham.

Tadman wrote:Here's an interesting idea: electrify only the RI suburban line, and run it as a continuation of the IC Blue Island branch.

Add all the Rock Island traffic to the already-choked Electric District? I'd hate to be a rider on either line.

its a cool idea but not practical, the track would have to 180 in a minimal amount of space, theres also clearance problems. iais runs double stacks through vermont. ridership is a huge problem there, who in the right mind would take a train that would start at 89th run down to 131st then head back in making all stops. plus there is the platform problem too

Wha'ts the big issue with doublestacks? They're 22 - 23 feet high. Even in the Northeast, EMU pans reach to 25+ feet. IIRC, the Metra equipment can reach a bit higher.

Anyway, 1.5kv is about as bas as you can get for electrification. A real project would be either 12kv or 25kv, 60hz power. Cheaper, better, faster.

I watched trains leaving the Van Buren station last night at rush hour, and those Highliners really are pretty rusted. If you look at the sheet metal right where the top level goes down, big rust bubbles are appearing.

Logistically speaking, there's no question that those should have been originally built with stainless steel side panels. Doesn't necessarily have to be corrugated, it could have been like the side panels on the E8/9s that the CB&Q had. That not being done on the highliners is, in my opinion, a really stupid mistake. They're stored outdoors, right near the lakefront where there's plenty of moisture in the air. The South Shore got it right when they ordered their new cars in the early 80s, and although that's almost ten years after the first highliners were built, someone at the IC should have looked at what the CTA did to their fleet, making the enteriors entirely out of either aluminum or stainless steel. Unfortunately the IC dumped the operation on Metra before the cars started rusting up, but at least there are some new cars coming (although there was a recent article somewhere about how there not being any funding for any more new highliners after the current 20 car order goes through).

Any update on new electric deliveries?

According to another slideshow I found, they're still being tested in Japan:

http://www.electricrailroaders.org/slid ... ra2/01.php

Something interesting I just noticed about the new cars is that they have the higher seating position (on the 2nd level) than the old Highliners, which are on the bottom level and have a door right to the platform on them. I wonder how the engineers will like their new location on the train.

I like the old Highliners because they are a unique variation in Metra's fleet. But I don't like them because they are a little more cramped than regular gallery cars.

The new cars look interesting. They will need less maintenance and will last a lot longer than the highliners. I wonder if the engineers will like those desktop controls.

I really hope South Shore won't buy any kind of bilevels when it is time to replace their fleet.

Milwaukee_F40C wrote:I really hope South Shore won't buy any kind of bilevels when it is time to replace their fleet.

It was seriously considered the last time they replaced their fleet (1982-1983) and they stuck with the traditional design then. More recent orders have kept with the same design, so I wouldn't expect that to change anytime soon.

South Shore recently bought new single level cars. Who knows what will become of the Valpo project.