Speaking of inconvenient transfers...

MetraRI's & byte's discussion about possible ways to improve Vermont St. make a lot of sense, and what a difference simply moving the MED tracks about 400 feet south would make. But it got me to thinking about the Prairie Crossing stations on MD-N & NC in Libertyville, which Metra considers a transfer station, though certainly not in the traditional sense. You've got two separate facilities located about a 1/2 mile south of the diamond, and I've never understood why it couldn't have been built as one station close to the location of the crossing. Plenty of land available, the access road would have needed a grade crossing over the MD-N track to get to Route 137, but that's no big deal; I'm not sure what else could have prevented such an otherwise logical location for the depot. As it stands today, the access road instead serves the function of connecting the two parking lots together, which is about a 1/4 mile or so on foot. Not an issue for able-bodied folks in good weather, but is certainly a hassle for everyone in bad weather; taken as a whole, the entire setup is just weird and inefficient. It wouldn't be a bad idea for Metra to reconfigure and consolidate the two stations at some point, especially if more NCS trains start running in the future...

At first glance it appears it could have worked to have both stations closer to the diamond at Prairie Crossing, but who knows if there was something else preventing Metra to do so... hopefully it wasn't because of poor planning.

Back during the SWS New Start days there was talk about a station connecting SWS and RI in New Lenox... of course the grade differences made this project out of reach.

As for Blue Island, this is what I envision: Of course, I doubt this would ever happen... but who knows. I would replace the existing small parking lot with a new Station building, which would then be closer to MED. Add/extend current platforms on the main, and relocate a single track branch lead adjacent to the mainline until Vermont Street. The newly created 'extra space' would make room for additional parking. Of course other tweaks would have to take place, changing the set up into the yard, and adding some higher speed turnouts onto the main. Would not only make Vermont street more pleasant, would get rid of the long crossing, and the slow speeds for branch trains.

I had a look at the Praire Crossing area via Google Earth and it looks like the area up by the diamond might be a wetland. If that is indeed the case, it would have been really, really expensive to put a single station there when the NCS service was started. Not to mention time-consuming in the months and months spent preparing and waiting for approval on environmental permits.

Byte is correct, the area near the southeast quadrant of the diamond at Grays Lake is pretty much a swamp, so environmental concerns or expense may have prohibited a single Prairie Crossing station near the diamond. It should be noted, too, that the current configuration puts the MD-N station significantly closer to the housing development at Harris Road and Illinois 137.

I have to ask, though -- does anybody actually transfer between the MD-N and NCS at Prairie Crossing?

MikeF wrote:I have to ask, though -- does anybody actually transfer between the MD-N and NCS at Prairie Crossing?

I was wondering the same thing, so I looked it up on RTAMS, and observed ridership trend data throughout the day, particularly for outbound boardings for trains heading to either Antioch or Fox Lake during the evening rush. According to 2006 stats, NCS had eight outbound boardings, while MD-N had eleven, which leads me to believe that there are a handful of folks using this a transfer point, most likely boarding from outside of downtown. Thanks also about the additional info about the wetlands issue, now I can understand why two stations had to be built...