Service start dates for New Start Projects

Mark your calendars now!

Metra to open stations on 3 lines in January

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/loca ... i-news-hed

Commuters who live in Lake, Kane and Will Counties will see expanded service on three Metra lines that serve those areas starting in late January, the commuter railroad announced Thursday.

On Jan. 23, Metra trains on the Union Pacific/West line will start running to new stations in Elburn and LaFox in Kane County. A dedication ceremony for that 8-mile extension of service will be held the same day in Elburn Village Hall.

The following week, expanded commuter service on the North Central Service line will begin. On Jan. 30 four new stations will open and 22 daily trains will operate on the line, which runs between Chicago and Antioch. Currently there are a total of 10 weekday trains on the line.

Also, on Jan. 30, service on the SouthWest Service line will be extended to Manhattan in Will County. The number of commuter trains running on that line will nearly double, with 30 operating between Chicago and Manhattan, starting that day. Currently, there are 16 weekday trains on the line.

Metra has yet to release the schedules for the expanded service, according to spokesman Patrick Waldron.

Great news! Can't wait to see what the new NCS schedule looks like. The article confirms that NCS will get 22 trains/day, but there's no info on schedules anywhere. I've been interested to see if they plan to expand rush hour service, or if they are adding primarily non-peak trains.

A pretty curious move by Metra to begin NCS and SWS expanded services on the same day; perhaps for PR purposes it might have been better to schedule them a week apart. Then again, projects like these that are at least partially funded by federal money usually have "date strings" attached.

Just the same, I'm pretty excited that the UP-W extension will open first, since my home is right next to the busy and vibrant triple-track mainline in the land of the mighty Union Pacific...

This new SWS schedule intrigues me, I had no idea they were adding 14 trains (I thought it was just a reconfiguration of the schedule to accomodate the new stop). I'm moreso in RI territory but the SWS is easily accessible to me, and pending the times of the new trains, they could be pretty useful since that line is usually pretty useless outside of rush hour.

Being glad only a month before the new services starts, especially on the SWS, since I live near this line.

I wonder how the new schedules will look. The new schedules will have mostally off-peak times, with some new peak hour trains(Especially on the NCS, & SWS).

For view The schedules will have new end points on their schedules(except for the NCS) like:
UP-W: Chicago to Elburn (Currently Chicago to Geneva)
SWS: Chicago to Manhattan (Currently Chicago to Orland Park)

This will be the first time we see the SWS schedule in a while without a pace bus symbol, or bus schedules on it, since pace will discontuine RT.835 when the new trains start running at the end of January.

Guys: Is weekend service in the cards for SWS and NCS? MACTRAXX

Weekend service will not immediately begin on SWS and NCS, but the potential is there in the future. It will probably depend on how ridership grows with the expanded weekday schedules. I predict weekend service will start on both lines in about a year or two.

MetraBNSF wrote:Weekend service will not immediately begin on SWS and NCS, but the potential is there in the future. It will probably depend on how ridership grows with the expanded weekday schedules. I predict weekend service will start on both lines in about a year or two.

That's a possibility, but in the case of NCS, perhaps at some point Metra could experiment with a weekend "shuttle" service, running between River Grove and Antioch. Theorectically, it could be two sets of equipment running three cars each at first, and if the demand is there, certain trips could be extended all the way downtown. Could it be done? Should it be done? Why or why not? Open for discussion...

Thanks guys! 2006 should be an interesting year for METRA! MACTRAXX

doepack wrote:That's a possibility, but in the case of NCS, perhaps at some point Metra could experiment with a weekend "shuttle" service, running between River Grove and Antioch. ... Could it be done? Should it be done? Why or why not? Open for discussion...

I would say no. Ostenstibly the shuttle would have to make a close connection with a Milwaukee West Line train; nobody would ride if they have to sit around at River Grove for half an hour waiting for their second train. So what happens if the North Central train is late getting to River Grove? MD-W passengers aren't going to be happy when their train has to wait at River Grove for the NCS train. Also keep in mind who rides on weekends -- a lot of family types who don't ride often and would likely find a mid-trip transfer confusing and cumbersome. It's only another 25 minutes to Union Station ... if they're going to run weekend trains, they should go all the way.

MikeF wrote:I would say no. Ostenstibly the shuttle would have to make a close connection with a Milwaukee West Line train; nobody would ride if they have to sit around at River Grove for half an hour waiting for their second trainSo what happens if the North Central train is late getting to River Grove? MD-W passengers aren't going to be happy when their train has to wait at River Grove for the NCS train.

Metra's penchant for printing erroneous schedules notwithstanding, I'm sure the schedules could be synchronized in such a way that ensures the NCS shuttle arrives within 15 minutes or so of the inbound MDW train. For instance, let's take a look at the current Saturday schedule on MDW. Trains currently arrive River Grove at :40 past the hour. NCS shuttles could arrive sometime between :25 and :30, to drop off the inbound passengers, and could also meet the outbound train there, which arrives at :54, meaning the shuttle won't have to sit for more than 30 minutes before heading back north. I know, it looks good on paper, but applying it to reality is another animal altogether...

I agree however, that mitigating delays will be the most challenging aspect of this potential service, but not necessarily because of the possible difficulty in educating the "family types" of riders as you pointed out. No doubt, it can be frustrating, but that can be dealt with. However with the two routes involved, it would be more realistic to expect delays to occur more often on NCS due to the heavier freight presence, and coupled with four new stations opening, the running time will have to be sufficiently lengthened to compensate accordingly. As a result, I'm not certain how long trains would have to sit on the north end before returning south, and there isn't enough data to crunch the numbers yet, but if it's more than 30 minutes, an NCS shuttle may indeed not be worth it. Less than 30 minutes, and it still could work...

it's a theory that works out east - NJT Princeton branch is shuttle-style, and I think MNCR has a shuttle on Danbury and New Canaan. In Chicago, a shuttle was always the way CTA killed a line - IE Humboldt Park.

Tadman wrote:it's a theory that works out east - NJT Princeton branch is shuttle-style, and I think MNCR has a shuttle on Danbury and New Canaan. In Chicago, a shuttle was always the way CTA killed a line - IE Humboldt Park.

Ah, but remember the yellow line! A shuttle will probably only be successful if it starts off that way (and service isn't downgraded to shuttle service, thus driving people away) and is fast. The CTA shuttles that failed were on decrepit elevated structures using the oldest rolling stock available at the time (mainly the last of the wood cars). When the Skokie Swift began operating, it was on a freshly ballasted ROW with brand-new high-speed railcars.

Personally, if I had an alternative method of transportation downtown, I'd take that over sitting in River Grove for a period of time, especially in winter. I agree with Mike; I don't think many people would ride, and if you're gonna run weekend trains I'd just assume run 'em all the way in to downtown.

MikeF wrote:

doepack wrote:That's a possibility, but in the case of NCS, perhaps at some point Metra could experiment with a weekend "shuttle" service, running between River Grove and Antioch. ... Could it be done? Should it be done? Why or why not? Open for discussion...

I would say no. Ostenstibly the shuttle would have to make a close connection with a Milwaukee West Line train; nobody would ride if they have to sit around at River Grove for half an hour waiting for their second train. So what happens if the North Central train is late getting to River Grove? MD-W passengers aren't going to be happy when their train has to wait at River Grove for the NCS train. Also keep in mind who rides on weekends -- a lot of family types who don't ride often and would likely find a mid-trip transfer confusing and cumbersome. It's only another 25 minutes to Union Station ... if they're going to run weekend trains, they should go all the way.

I will have to agree with MikeF, having a shuttle NCS on weekends won't work, not just because of the delays it will bring if one train is late, but also it wont attract many riders, because you got the UP-NW, and the MD-N lines which has weekend service, plus the MD-N is parriling the NCS by 5 miles to the east, and is faster.

Weekend shuttle service on the NCS would be just like the failes supplement pace rts.960 & 961 when the NCS bugan service in 1996, 960,& 961 only lasted untill 1998, because people drove to metra stations with all day service.

People would have a one seat ride to Downtown chicago instead of transferring from one train to another, even on weekends.