[Rail Claimore]

Originally Posted by chitowngza

Operating four-car trains down to 95th St during the off-peak times except for overnight service is courting disaster (Red Line-Ryan riders are cranky enough as is...). While I don't necessarily disagree 8-car trains may be a tad longish currently after 10PM on weekdays, on weekends, and even between the rushes, 4 cars during these times is plain too short and will incite complaints. Dan Ryan ridership is higher than that. It would definitely not be feasible when (if?) they *FINALLY* extend the Red Line to SOMEWHERE beyond 95th. I say this with awareness of the possibility Im misreading you. In that case that's on me. But if not, then as a Red Line rider I hafta quickly but respectfully disagree.

Rest of the idea is cool tho. I especially very much support a Clinton subway. Always have. Tho I would go with an alignment that links it with the Blue Line over linking it with the Red Line further north, both discussed in the Central Area Plan. I like the former plan with the purpose of getting people across the river to their Loop jobs or whatever and back quickly. It would also be a convenient way to get deep into downtown if interurban train service ever goes regionally hi-speed and thus gets popular (or at least useful) again.

As much as the coverage of CTA is the envy of so many who don't live here, its still quite flawed and among myriad other things I think its kinda senseless that the L doesn't directly serve the train stations, especially Union Station. The walk to Clinton/Congress from there is just that--a walk. Same with Clinton/Lake from Ogilvie. And it's an outdoor trek; sucks when it's cold. Millennium Station's a bit of a haul from State but at least it has the pedway. LaSalle's really the only one of the four with halfway convenient L access.

Norsider, I agree with you. Places like Navy Pier and McCormick Pl are woefully underserved by public tansit that's NOT the slow buses or those silly tourist trolleys. Heavy rail service for these places just ain't happenin' tho. Not for a very long time at least. Not with the financial and political issues surrounding the projects actually on the table. And as you succinctly noted a few posts back, those who control the purse strings don't always use those funds for the most sane purposes...

Why not just revive the old Circulator plan to serve these places? Wouldn't that be cheaper as an LRT system, or no? It was a great idea when it was first entertained years ago. Too bad the idiot relevant powers-that-be seemed either cool to the idea or actively opposed to it. Least it looks like this Carroll Av talk is the potential beginning of a revival of that, and perhaps it can snowball from there. It would definitely be a hit with tourists and conventioneers (and may even serve a purpose for those of us who actually live here) and keep em outta my way on the L.

Another question: Why route the Purple Line to the subways, anyway? Could it not continue to work in its current routing if these additions to the L system came to fruition? Does it have anything to do with this so-called "Pink Line" ( ) routing on the Loop tracks (to me the CTA is playing themselves if they want me to believe it was ever seriously to be a short-term "experiment;" I've smelled permanece all along...)? Viva, you're always informed and insightful on these sorta things. Whaddaya say?

The south side red line idea I brought up is a bad plan anyway now that I realize one thing. Increasing frequency wouldn't make a difference between 4-car or 8-car trains. The red line will have to continue as is. The only underutilized line on the north side then would be the purple line. If the circle line is to operate using the subway, then routing the purple line through there would not be the best option anyway.

A cheaper alternative is to rather than build a new subway from North and Clybourne, have purple line trains use the circle line going the other way from Armitage into a North Avenue Subway (which would be the way the line would be constructed there anyway), then have purple line trains merge with blue line trains at Division Street and head to the new underground loop that way. Besides the Clinton Street Subway, the additional construction costs would be minimal if the circle line were to be built. This would provide needed capacity by increasing operations on the existing north side elevated as well as in the Milwaukee Subway to at least Division Street without affecting red line service at all on either side of the city.

The Pink Line would operate clockwise around the loop anyway along with the orange line. Together, those two lines can match brown line frequencies going counter-clockwise around the loop, evening out loop traffic as it is in terms of clockwise vs counter-clockwise. The purple line would not need to run on the elevated loop. Operating it in an underground loop would give it a larger area of service downtown.