by EricL
Comments from someone who works this line five days a week.
An extra crossover between KK Bridge and Lake would be nice, but it probably isn't necessary, and would cost a lot more. What might be worth the money is to upgrade KK from a one-way crossover to a universal one, and to upgrade the signalling between Lake and Milwaukee. There'd be a small bit of realignment involved for the yard lead, but nothing close to the cost of brand new crossovers.
Trains in either direction don't run at restricted speed to the next signal. General Code rule provides that, within CTC territory, you can go whatever speed you like, up to MAS, provided that you are "prepared to stop" at the next signal.
I'm all for the operational flexibility that the new platform would provide. The freight bottleneck in this area is very real, especially during certain times of day.
I worry about pax delays that will happen once we start using track 2. Announcements and signage or no - people don't pay any attention. There will be big dwell time delays, at least until a normal usage pattern is established. I suppose that's the same case to be expected anywhere in this sort of situation.
Only real trouble with this is for the eastbounds. Once you're five or so minutes late, Metra no longer cares about your excuses. They have trains to run too and they will run them first.
Regarding platform height/doors - trust me, we all would LOVE to have commuter/NEC-style trainline doors on this service. I think it's far overdue - to the point where we actively complained to WisDot when we found out that the new Siemens single levels might potentially have the same old trap-door boarding style. (Not sure where they're at on remediation - I saw that PowerPoint and the minutes document on the other thread, but I'm still not really convinced about anything)
We're not trying to screw around. We want to move. Our service is under far more pressure to move than is any other service out of Chicago, long or short. People depend on us every day and we understand that. We bust our asses out here with what we have.
An extra crossover between KK Bridge and Lake would be nice, but it probably isn't necessary, and would cost a lot more. What might be worth the money is to upgrade KK from a one-way crossover to a universal one, and to upgrade the signalling between Lake and Milwaukee. There'd be a small bit of realignment involved for the yard lead, but nothing close to the cost of brand new crossovers.
Trains in either direction don't run at restricted speed to the next signal. General Code rule provides that, within CTC territory, you can go whatever speed you like, up to MAS, provided that you are "prepared to stop" at the next signal.
I'm all for the operational flexibility that the new platform would provide. The freight bottleneck in this area is very real, especially during certain times of day.
I worry about pax delays that will happen once we start using track 2. Announcements and signage or no - people don't pay any attention. There will be big dwell time delays, at least until a normal usage pattern is established. I suppose that's the same case to be expected anywhere in this sort of situation.
Only real trouble with this is for the eastbounds. Once you're five or so minutes late, Metra no longer cares about your excuses. They have trains to run too and they will run them first.
Regarding platform height/doors - trust me, we all would LOVE to have commuter/NEC-style trainline doors on this service. I think it's far overdue - to the point where we actively complained to WisDot when we found out that the new Siemens single levels might potentially have the same old trap-door boarding style. (Not sure where they're at on remediation - I saw that PowerPoint and the minutes document on the other thread, but I'm still not really convinced about anything)
We're not trying to screw around. We want to move. Our service is under far more pressure to move than is any other service out of Chicago, long or short. People depend on us every day and we understand that. We bust our asses out here with what we have.
hey there guy
