O'Hare High Speed Rail

Evidently we need a HSR link to O'Hare...

http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/clo ... ntown.html

>>Mayor Richard Daley returned from his trip to Asia convinced foreign investors might put up the money to pay for fast, high-end rail service from O’Hare >>International Airport to downtown. “I think they are very interested — China, Korea, Japan, the Middle East — yes,” Daley said today when asked if business >>people he met in China and South Korea might fund the effort.

Gotta say, I'm quite skeptical about the need or benefit. Economists from both parties would say this isn't a way to create "good" jobs.

I see a need for it.. the blue line is slow as sh&t.

Are there any baggage storage racks on it yet? A sweet pain if you took it in rush hour, for sure.

There was an article in the tribune restating the same information a few days ago. I don't see that much could happen since Daley is going to be gone anyway.

IIRC the provisions for a connector was built between the Blue and Red lines downtown that was intended to be a terminus for a O'Hare service. Perhaps in a future year something will be done. It certainly won't be 125+ MPH HSR ... but with a lot of work an express service could be worked out.

(Even a slow express where airport bound passengers in special trains would not get a faster trip but would get an "exclusive" trip with no regular commuters and room for their baggage would help.)

Toronto is ordering new low-floor Rail Diesel Cars from SUMITOMO for its Airport Line.

These could just as easily be used for O'Hare to Chicago Union Station services, and put into service almost overnight.

One would need to extend the O'Hare People Mover just a short distance to the O'Hare Metra Station.

The folks at "North America's Railway", headquartered in Montreal, would say "NON", of course.

Say, isn't SUMITOMO building an assembly plant in Rochelle, IL?

The people mover extension is the best O'Hare-related transit idea I've heard in a long time.

Pacific 2-3-1 wrote:Toronto is ordering new low-floor Rail Diesel Cars from SUMITOMO for its Airport Line.
One would need to extend the O'Hare People Mover just a short distance to the O'Hare Metra Station.

FRA acceptable for mixed use lines? That would be a key requirement.

Pacific 2-3-1 wrote:Say, isn't SUMITOMO building an assembly plant in Rochelle, IL?

Nippon-Sharyo ... but yes, they build cars for Sumitomo Corporation of America.

The METRA cars being built in Rochelle are FRA acceptable. Wouldn't Metra's normal gallery cars be acceptable?

Oops, my bad. Toronto is ordering LOW LEVEL cars, not LOW FLOOR cars. They're similar to the Diesel Multiple Units being built for Marin County (by Sumitomo/Nippon Sharyo).

Some additional decent right of way for conventional trains would be OK too, either along the Blue Line or otherwise.

A non-stop from O'Hare to downtown (at 50mph or so) would be plenty quick enough.

Maybe a two track el over the existing one?

Pacific 2-3-1 wrote:These could just as easily be used for O'Hare to Chicago Union Station services, and put into service almost overnight. One would need to extend the O'Hare People Mover just a short distance to the O'Hare Metra Station. Say, isn't SUMITOMO building an assembly plant in Rochelle, IL?

NIPPON SHARYO is the train building arm of SUMITOMO.
If the purpose was to run an express service between Union Station and O'Hare, these trains will make a better choice than METRA's galley cars because they have overhead luggage racks lacking in the galley cars. An airport train needs that capability to be useful to travelers.
SMART's DMUs


Metrolinx DMUs


Additionally, these DMUs will also meet the new Tier 4 EPA standards, so they will pollute less. They'll be more fuel efficient as well, using smaller diesels to propel each car vs one huge diesel to propel an entire train. Here's the SMART's staff presentation explaining why the chose the Nippon Sharyo DMU for procurement.
http://www.sonomamarintrain.org/userfil ... -10-25.pdf

Additionally, the non-streamline nose version looks very much like the Southshore's single level EMUs, except for the location of the doors....