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.

Moderators: metraRI, JamesT4

 #728664  by byte
 
It wasn't Metra's goal, the municipalities along the line wanted it - mostly for recreational purposes. Actually they had asked for both Saturday and Sunday service, but to keep the freight railroads happy only Saturday service was added. Apparently the SWS is pretty bad when it comes to irregular interference at diamonds by the IHB, CN, etc. Once the CREATE projects are done that would clear the way for relatively unrestricted passenger runs on the SWS but who knows how long it'll be until that's done.
 #728681  by metraRI
 
byte wrote:It wasn't Metra's goal, the municipalities along the line wanted it - mostly for recreational purposes. Actually they had asked for both Saturday and Sunday service, but to keep the freight railroads happy only Saturday service was added. Apparently the SWS is pretty bad when it comes to irregular interference at diamonds by the IHB, CN, etc. Once the CREATE projects are done that would clear the way for relatively unrestricted passenger runs on the SWS but who knows how long it'll be until that's done.
Oak Lawn had the biggest voice for Saturday Service, and Oak Lawn definitely provides the ridership... areas south have RI as a close alternative with more service. Regardless of who wanted the service, Metra still has to have a ridership goal when it comes to continuing the runs after 2 years. With only 6 trains total, I wouldn't expect high numbers. Of the several times I've ridden SWS on Saturday, no train has been delayed due to freight interference, apart from NS doing signal upgrades at CP518.
 #728788  by EricL
 
Folks in the southwest suburbs have been without decent train service for a long time. It's going to take more than three a day to get folks down there considering day trips downtown. Such trips are common on the "full service" Metra lines (including the Rock), but I just don't think many of these folks think about downtown as an option for weekend recreation. Even by car, it's quite inconvenient to get downtown from places like Oak Lawn, Orland, and Palos. The populated areas of these towns sit in a "dead zone" between the major highways and rail lines.

Of course, it doesn't help that the SWS line isn't particularly quick.
 #729493  by MACTRAXX
 
Everyone: Just thinking: Would operating certain trains on weekends to LaSalle Street help speed matters here? There should be better capacity to handle SWS trains there than at Union.
Is the S section of the Loop just too quiet and out of the way on weekends as I remember? Thoughts from MACTRAXX
 #731196  by bones
 
There is no way to get to LaSalle from the SWS.
 #731798  by jstolberg
 
bones wrote:There is no way to get to LaSalle from the SWS.
CREATE plans to shunt the SWS trains over to the RI tracks at about 74th Street. That will give Amtrak more platforms at Union Station for expansion of Midwest Corridor services. But final design is not done on the plan and it will take many millions of dollars to build. Some of the dollars and some of the urgency left for Rio earlier this month.
 #731873  by metraRI
 
jstolberg wrote:CREATE plans to shunt the SWS trains over to the RI tracks at about 74th Street. That will give Amtrak more platforms at Union Station for expansion of Midwest Corridor services. But final design is not done on the plan and it will take many millions of dollars to build. Some of the dollars and some of the urgency left for Rio earlier this month.
This is true, however, that is years away from reality. Metra also had mentioned plans to make RID 3 tracks from Gresham to LaSalle... we'll see if they build the new 35th Street Station to accommodate this.
 #732072  by bones
 
Everyone: Just thinking: Would operating certain trains on weekends to LaSalle Street help speed matters here? There should be better capacity to handle SWS trains there than at Union.
Is the S section of the Loop just too quiet and out of the way on weekends as I remember? Thoughts from MACTRAXX
I think what he meant was running out Sat trains there right now. Besides if they do cut the SWS to the Rock (bad idea) it probably won't happen for about 15 years. By then the weeken service on the SWS will be a thing of the past.
 #732199  by CHTT
 
Bones, we know you don't want the Southwest Service on weekends because you don't want to work those days, but I think there will be seven day service on the SWS in the future. Once started, it will very hard to withdraw. All services are slow to start. Ridership will grow.
 #732250  by doepack
 
I'd like to see it succeed, but frankly, the numbers just aren't there. Whether or not they will be in the future is debatable, but it 's certainly gonna take a lot more than the average of 17 passengers per train to keep the Saturday service alive...
 #732329  by metraRI
 
I think Metra needs to take a look at what Minneapolis' new service Northstar is doing when it starts next month. Even with only 12 trains each weekday, they will still provide 6 trains on Saturday AND Sunday... however, the schedule was made to accommodate ridership trends.

http://www.northstartrain.org/plan_schedules.html

#862 is much too early to produce big numbers on a Saturday.. if anything the first train should be held until 9:00 and push back #864 until 12:00.
 #732571  by doepack
 
metraRI wrote:I think Metra needs to take a look at what Minneapolis' new service Northstar is doing when it starts next month. Even with only 12 trains each weekday, they will still provide 6 trains on Saturday AND Sunday... however, the schedule was made to accommodate ridership trends.
#862 is much too early to produce big numbers on a Saturday.. if anything the first train should be held until 9:00 and push back #864 until 12:00.
That's sensible. But given all the freight traffic, maybe 862's current schedule was the best slot Metra could get...
 #831268  by metraRI
 
It has been a while since I've riden SWS on a Saturday, but it appears Metra may keep running SWS after March's two year trial.
"Right now we still have the money to finance this project and have no plans to change anything," she said. "Weekend service was mostly seen as giving people in the Southland another way to get to get to downtown events to enjoy the city, and it's doing that. Ridership is down all over, but people are using it."
Successful Saturdays keep trains on track