Midwest Regional Rail Initiative

[Nexis4Jersey]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Here's an interesting article about the Talgos; it goes into the design process.

http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/COMM/docs...nuary_2013.pdf

Apparently the ugly front was designed over the original, graceful bullet nose because Amtrak insisted on having two drivers' seats with equal visibility. Sounds like crashworthiness had nothing to do with it.

The original Design was cleared by the FRA....its just Amtrak who made a stink....and thats a sad move... You don't even need 2 seats in the cab , most passenger cabs have one...even the Acela has one....the new Amtrak Cities Sprinter has one....why does this train need 2?

[jpIllInoIs]

TheGetAwayTrain

Ann Arbor to Chicago!
Midwest Entertainment is here to create an affordable way to travel to and from Chicago from hot-spot Michigan locations that is not only faster than the traditional train or driving, but is more enjoyable with music, food, and drinks for riders.

Train service is targeted to college student and twenty somethings promoting weekend entertainment destinations in Chicago.

Weekend service only; leaves Ann Arbor (UM & EMU) on Friday afternoon, stops in Kalamazoo (WMU) arrives in Chicago Friday night. Departs Chicago Sunday afternoon. Only other stops are Battle Creek and Jackson.

[ardecila]

Interesting. I wonder if there's money to be made here? Obviously Amtrak could be offering the same service.

[Mr Downtown]

^But Amtrak can't pay the staff market-rate wages.

[denizen467]

On the other hand, why has something like this not succeeded before?
IIRC there was news a year or two ago about a lengthy trackage and/or routing upgrade in SW Michigan; was that what was holding this back?

You'd think there would be an even better market for something like this from Madison to Chicago, or serving the Bloomington-Champaign region -- or have those markets generally always had ample Amtrak service?

[ardecila]

Originally Posted by denizen467

On the other hand, why has something like this not succeeded before?
IIRC there was news a year or two ago about a lengthy trackage and/or routing upgrade in SW Michigan; was that what was holding this back?

You'd think there would be an even better market for something like this from Madison to Chicago, or serving the Bloomington-Champaign region -- or have those markets generally always had ample Amtrak service?

Norfolk Southern had to play ball with Amtrak (to satisfy their common carrier obligations), but they were free to shut out private operators who might seek to run passenger service. Now the entire line between Porter and Dearborn is owned by Amtrak and Michigan.

[Mr Downtown]

Originally Posted by denizen467

You'd think there would be an even better market for something like this from Madison to Chicago, or serving the Bloomington-Champaign region -- or have those markets generally always had ample Amtrak service?

Better served by buses. Besides the relatively recent Megabuses, there are buses that go directly from the suburbs (where college students come from) to the campuses of the big universities.

[ardecila]

Building on the talk of the Michigan corridor, MDOT is now running an alternatives analysis for South of the Lake (which, oddly, will fall almost entirely in Indiana).

http://www.greatlakesrail.org/

I love how they are systematically looking at the entire universe of routing options between CUS and Michigan City. Also, MSHRA is pushing for an alignment that is 220mph-ready, with wide horizontal/vertical curvature, no movable bridges, and no grade crossings. It's unclear so far whether MDOT is contemplating something that radical.

[jpIllInoIs]

Originally Posted by ardecila

Building on the talk of the Michigan corridor, MDOT is now running an alternatives analysis for South of the Lake (which, oddly, will fall almost entirely in Indiana).

http://www.greatlakesrail.org/

I love how they are systematically looking at the entire universe of routing options between CUS and Michigan City. Also, MSHRA is pushing for an alignment that is 220mph-ready, with wide horizontal/vertical curvature, no movable bridges, and no grade crossings. It's unclear so far whether MDOT is contemplating something that radical.

I remember a webinar where the "Alternative Analysis" has to do with the Grand Crossing connection. I think this group wants the GX to be a Northeast Quadrant connecting NS to the old IC Metra. This would require a rebuild of the SAL through Amtrak property, which Amtrak is balking at.

Planning for projects of this scope progresses through several phases. The Tier I Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) lays out the basic framework of the project. The Tier II EIS designs the project in enough detail to gain environmental approvals and seek funding. Final design and construction occur as funding is secured.

The Tier I EIS "Alternative Analysis" phase is critical. Once the route is choose this is the direction the DOTs will go in for the rest of the planning on this segment of the corridor.

The DOT's have completed the first round of comparing various route alternatives. In addition to screening out several undesirable routes, the DOT's added a new alternative that likely meets our criteria.

The DOTs are seeking public comment on the "Alternative Analysis" phase. Comments are due by May 29th 2013. Your comment can help change the direction of Midwest passenger rail service by asking them to choose the route that has potential for high-speed trains

[ardecila]

Jesus... Amtrak is so resistant to change, even when somebody else is gonna pay for it. It drastically improves their reliability to switch to the high-level SCAL bridge over the river, with fewer bridge openings and no freight conflicts.

They might have to relocate some shop stuff but not very much. A flyover doesn't take up much room.

[ardecila]

A group of Chicago businessmen are proposing a freight rail bypass in the Illiana right-of-way.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/144284979/...Bypass-Concept

They have some dubious endorsements, but they want to build this with entirely private money (piggybacking on the land acquisition for the expressway, no doubt). It's an interesting idea, but it has the same problem as the Illiana Expressway: it will encourage massive sprawl by spreading jobs out along a 90-mile corridor just beyond the fringe of Chicagoland. This will drive residential sprawl, highway expansion, and all the stuff the Chicago region needs to be avoiding.

Chicagoland already has a pretty dense rail network; we should be focusing on upgrading this network with grade separations and improved interlockings before building stuff like this.

[jpIllInoIs]

^ I couldn't agree more. This and the Illiana Xwy are of dubious benefit to Chicago and even the greater Chicagoland. But I could see why Indiana would be all for it. Why on earth would Chicago & Cook + county want to reroute freight rail away from the existing inter-modal yards? The only certain outcome would be the relocation of freight yards and jobs from the city and innercore county. And for this they will seek taxpayer dollars. There is plenty of code words these proposals use much like SEO keywords. And "Private" is one of them. It only means that they are Private entities seeking personal monetary returns. That designation will not prevent them from seeking or in this case piggybacking on taxpayer dollars.

[jpIllInoIs]

^ This just brings up the whole issue of TIF and State tax giveaways to corporations. And what is at stake here is one of the primary economic engines of Chicagoland. A very tempting target for a state that runs negative ads to lure Chicago businesses.

[ardecila]

Pontiac Amtrak Station Concepts
http://www.legat.com/?_p=portfolio,t...tion,project_7

[jpIllInoIs]

For what its worth..


Researchers say high-speed rail could fuel U.S. real-estate, economic booms
by Andrea Mayeux
May 29, 2013
Medill Reports

A study by researchers at the University of California-Los Angeles and China’s Tsinghua University found that by connecting “second tier” cities to global hubs, more people move to the smaller cities where housing costs are lower, creating a real-estate boom, among other unplanned benefits....

In Illinois a portion of Amtrak’s 284-mile corridor linking Chicago and St. Louis is undergoing a $1.1 billion overhaul to bring train speeds up to 110 miles an hour. The Federal Railroad Administration is funding the project. Instead of five-and-a-half hours, passengers will make the trip in four hours.

Given the Chicago-St. Louis corridor’s speed, Kahn expects cities along the line could experience revitalization of downtowns and add multi-family units near Amtrak stations.

Some of those cities are already seeing benefits.

Normal, Ill., which is about 130 miles from Chicago and 170 miles from St. Louis, received $22 million from the federal government to build a transportation center as a result of plans to upgrade the line. Since then, City Manager Mark Peterson said, development in the uptown area has taken off. A new $80 million conference center sits across the street. A $30 million development near construction will include a hotel, luxury apartments and retail shops.

Peterson said that just “the possibility of high speed rail helped us attract private investment to our central business district. We think we have just scratched the surface on what is the potential economic development implications of being right on that high-speed rail corridor.”

[Busy Bee]

Yeah, and just imagine the changes ACTUAL high speed rail would bring.

[jpIllInoIs]

Originally Posted by ardecila

A group of Chicago businessmen are proposing a freight rail bypass in the Illiana right-of-way.

The Great Lakes LLC is actually an Indiana company with a Crete IL mailing address that is 100ft across the state line from Indiana. http://www.bizapedia.com/in/GREAT-LAKES-BASIN-LLC.html

They have some dubious endorsements, but they want to build this with entirely private money (piggybacking on the land acquisition for the expressway, no doubt).

Indeed the Randy Blankenship quote looks completely out of context and the Tony Preckwinlkle quote is 5 years old, I doubt that the Cook County board chariman is in favor of this concept.

Chicagoland already has a pretty dense rail network; we should be focusing on upgrading this network with grade separations and improved interlockings before building stuff like this.

Quite right, the CREATE plan has been successful in its goals to date. Anything that takes the focus off of the full implementation of the CREATE program is bad for Chicago's economy.

[ardecila]

I've given it a little more thought, and I think this actually could be a vast improvement in efficiency for the shipping industry. If the Illiana concentrates all the east-west trucking and the rail bypass concentrates all the east-west rail traffic, that could be an absolutely huge game-changer for Chicago and would put Chicago head-and-shoulders above any potential rivals (StL, KC, etc) as the premier distribution and logistics hub between the coasts. That means jobs and a massive expansion of the economic base.

The only issue I can see, and it's a huge one, is carefully regulating land use to prevent residential sprawl. This is complicated by the state line; it would be difficult to coordinate land use policy between different states. Even if you placed protections to prohibit residential development (which is hard in itself, since Will County wants sprawl), how would you get workers to a series of distributed workplaces along a 90-mile corridor without having them drive long distances, and putting additional strain on the highway system? The only thing I can think of is to grow new towns from scratch along the Illiana Corridor, New Urbanism-style.

[jpIllInoIs]

IF there is going to be a dedicated rail ROW, it needs to be pax True HSR.

[Jonboy1983]

Originally Posted by jpIllInoIs

IF there is going to be a dedicated rail ROW, it needs to be pax True HSR.

I'm thinking that might be one of the points of this freight bypass project -- rerouting some of (if not all) freight traffic out of Chicago...