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Discussion related to commuter rail and rapid transit operations in the Chicago area including the South Shore Line, Metra Rail, and Chicago Transit Authority.

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 #1388554  by davinp
 
VRE has a contract with Sumitomo for Nippon-Sharyo gallery style railcars. There is an option for 21 more railcars on this contract that expires in February 2017. VRE cannot
exercise this option for the additional 21 railcars because we do not have funding for the railcars nor the space to store the additional cars. Metra, the commuter rail system serving
the Chicago area, uses the same type of Nippon-Sharyo railcars as VRE. They approached VRE about purchasing railcars from our contract with Sumitomo for the Nippon-Sharyo
railcars.

http://www.vre.org/about/board/board-ag ... tions-pdf/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 #1425050  by twropr
 
A friend who was approaching Chicago Union Station on LAKE SHORE LIMITED #49 last Monday saw some VRE cars sitting by Metra's maintenance facility. We believe there are used cars, perhaps 7, that Metra has acquired from VRE. Anyone who can she more light on this?
Any word on the 21 cars that VRE had ordered from Nippon Sharyo that go to Metra?
Thanks!
Andy
Jacksonville, FL
 #1434236  by MetraBNSF
 
Riding out on MD-N this afternoon, I saw what appeared to be 4 smooth side VRE cars in the Western Ave yard. They are very similar to the pullman coaches that used to operate on CNW. I wonder if the option also included acquiring older cars until newer ones are delivered?
 #1434917  by F40c611fan
 
twropr wrote:A friend who was approaching Chicago Union Station on LAKE SHORE LIMITED #49 last Monday saw some VRE cars sitting by Metra's maintenance facility. We believe there are used cars, perhaps 7, that Metra has acquired from VRE. Anyone who can she more light on this?
Any word on the 21 cars that VRE had ordered from Nippon Sharyo that go to Metra?
Thanks!
Andy
Jacksonville, FL
MetraBNSF wrote:Riding out on MD-N this afternoon, I saw what appeared to be 4 smooth side VRE cars in the Western Ave yard. They are very similar to the pullman coaches that used to operate on CNW. I wonder if the option also included acquiring older cars until newer ones are delivered?
Not only did they LOOK like the CNW coaches, they ARE the CNW coaches. Metra sold many of them to other commuter agencies upon retirement and has reacquired somewhere around 40-50 in recent years, 18 of which are back from VRE (in three separate batches). The most recent batch arrived last fall and is mostly some of the older CNW pullmans from the late 1950s (distinguishable by the fact that they have 6 windows on each quadrant instead of 4) which VRE has had since the late '90s.

These are completely separate from the new ones. Did you happen to catch car numbers? I'm keeping track of which ones are back and whether or not they're in service, but I've had to rely on largely random sightings.