The FRA's New Midwest Rail Plan and CrossRail Chicago

[@luxembros6791]

Honestly a high speed rail line from Milwaukee to Chicago would be like a 15 minute trip and people would actually use it

[@papachicken8990]

Honestly a bunch of people from kenosha and Racine go to work in Chicago or go there a lot and it work if they would build a station for Kenosha and racine

[@bearworldwide101]

Yes and they can use the ROW or remaining ROW of the old North Shore Line since it actually goes thru these towns centres.

[@scrat4379]

@luxembros6791 similar to the Philadelphia-New York City trip. Both cities are roughly 90 miles apart as is Chicago-Milwaukee. Would be nice if Amtrak electrified some of those corridors.

[@LIFEwithBAVAN]

Theyre finally building the Rockford-Chicago rail connect after almost 40 years.

[@KingChi1989]

I’m excited about this!

[@vlfrail]

Hey can you do a video on the new Amtrak venture railcars soon I heard from IDOT that they are now in service on the Lincoln service line on trains 303 and 306 that was as of December 14, 2021

[@MisterUptempo]

1) I trust any discussion regarding serving O'Hare takes into account that the Illinois Tollway Authority is in the middle of completing new toll routes Illinois 390 and Interstate 490, which will open up the western side of the airport for new terminals, and that any rail service will need to access future western terminals. 2) Regarding the 16th Street Connector, I'd imagine Amtrak may be balking at the idea because installing the Connector would cut into Amtrak's valuable yard space. Have any negotiations taken place for Amtrak to take over UP's unused Canal Street Yard, which stretches from Archer Ave. to 28th Street, and would provide Amtrak many times the amount of yard space it would lose to the Connector? 3) Mr. Harnish, months ago, you hosted Marc Magliari from Amtrak, and he indicated that Amtrak would likely place its financial eggs into one basket - either CREATE - Grand Crossing or the 16th Street Connector. Has Mr. Magliari or Amtrak recently given you any signals as to which way they are currently leaning? Also, how does Magliari's idea of trains running on the former IC line approaching Union Station "briefly going onto the Rock Island tracks" to access a 16th Street Connector comport with HSRA's vision for the Connector? 4) In a long-term vision to increase capacity, the Chicago Union Station Master Plan holds out the possibility of high speed tracks being built under Canal Street. They envisioned 4 tracks serving 2 island platforms. CDOT will soon commence the reconstruction of the Canal Street viaduct, between Madison and Taylor Streets. Is IDOT/Amtrak working with CDOT to ensure that the rebuilt portions of the Canal viaduct will allow any new tracks to be built with relative ease?

[@scrat4379]

Will this proposed project involve building electrified rail lines into Chicago Union station? If not, all this talk about "high speed rail" is a lotta nothing! I don't want to hear about the FRA's definition of HSR which only gets up to 110-125 mph!

[@Harvey-x7d]

In the meantime, pre-hsr, frequent suburban service to Antioch is essential. Metra suburban trains would provide reliable connections with O'Hare. North Central Service would facilitate a Cross rail plan with a new direct connection at 16th Street.

[@electricar9]

HSR needs other forms of transit to get folks around the city and to the airports from train stations instead of running passenger trains everywhere. 🙄 Example: Automated People Movers and other Automated Transit Systems.

[@packr72]

Crossrail is dumb and a waste of money. The only needed part is rebuilding Union Station. Concentrate on building fast and frequent trains and don’t worry about airports.

[@kariminalo979]

Nope I disagree, Crossrail will alleviate much of the existing congestion problems in Chiago. It's a much better long-term investment securing faster, frequent and direct transport links to suburban areas on the peripheral of Greater Chicago. The existing system is not only outdated but a huge money drainer, it's highly ineffective and needs to be reformed and rebuilt. Crossrail is no doubt the best alternative. You can't just expect people to take an HSR to suburbs that are located 5-10 miles from the City, a compliment is needed to make it more effective financially, and for that Crossrail is needed as it serves as an underlying complement between heavy-rail Subways and Intercity and HSR.

[@danielbliss8014]

It's absolutely crucial and it's one of the cheapest, low-hanging, high-volume prizes in American passenger railroading. Right now, the various parts of Metra aren't joined together, with two of the three busiest lines, Metra Electric and Rock Island, orphaned from the rest of the system; it makes the system almost useless outside of commuting and that's disastrous with post-covid ridership patterns. Crossrail and Chicago Access link it together; they mean that cross-city trips by rail become possible, such as from the south side to O'Hare, thereby making it possible for people to switch from cars to rail, Chicago Access greatly improves connectivity and efficiency at Union Station. And the two projects together boost capacity and flexibility for Metra and solve major capacity and timing problems for Amtrak, getting rid of an absurd reverse maneuver for services to southern Illinois and New Orleans, and opening access for Amtrak to mostly grade-separated and passenger oriented routes like Rock Island, Metra Electric and South Shore that can enable all Amtrak services to points of the compass from the southwest through the south and east to the northeast to avoid freight interference.

[@LucidFL]

sneeds feed and seed

[@Falcon7001]

Ummm, ummmm, ummmm, ah, ah, ah