Metra to extend service to Rockford by 2027

No, they wouldn't be forced to offer any services beyond the seat from A to B and access to a lavatory.

Service is still 3 years away, so who knows what will change between now and then. The plan right now is to run express to Elgin, and then additional stops beyond. There was talk of offering a stop near O'Hare as well.

My guess and this is only a guess is that this would be a bespoke ticketed service and not available to monthly pass users.

I don't think anything stops somebody from buying a ticket from Chicago to Glenview on the Hiawatha. This should be no different.


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eolesen wrote: ↑Thu Aug 24, 2023 10:10 amI don't think anything stops somebody from buying a ticket from Chicago to Glenview on the Hiawatha. This should be no different

There was a time when Amtrak would not sell such a trip without a connecting train at Union Station. It was a note in the public timetables. Homewood to/from Chicago. Hammond-Whiting to/from Chicago. Naperville to/from Chicago. All not allowed.

Apparently Glenview is special.

Maybe the restriction was dropped.... Naperville, Homewood and Glenview are all bookable from CUS. So is Hammond.

I'm not wasting the time to see if it can be ticketed.


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eolesen wrote: ↑Fri Aug 25, 2023 2:41 pmMaybe the restriction was dropped.... Naperville, Homewood and Glenview are all bookable from CUS. So is Hammond.

I'm not wasting the time to see if it can be ticketed.

I checked before I made my post. The last published timetables showed the restrictions as noted on the other destinations. Glenview was allowed at that time.

I didn't try scheduling an unlinked trip back in 2019 for any of the other cities. Getting to the checkout level on Amtrak is a fairly good sign that the purchase would be honored. But websites can have glitches.

west point wrote: ↑Wed Aug 23, 2023 9:47 pm What would be wild is that METRA would have to lease some Amfleets to provide the type of amenities that Metra does not have.

#1 may be to provide some bathrooms. Long way to ride without a comfort room.
#2 could be some kind of diner/lounge. Would be wild to have some kind of 3 coach, 1 cafe type service.

May be most important to abandon the idea of using IC/CN rails to Rockford & beyond.
No return of the "Land O Corn" or "Blackhawk"

Not sure what popular stops are between Elgin & downtown. Maybe just stop there, 1 close to O'Hare.

Metra's bi-levels have wheelchair accessible "comfort rooms" in every car. They also have wifi and power plugs.

There's precedent for setting up a snack stop inside the vestibule area if food is really an issue, but I doubt Metra wants that added complexity for a 90-120 minute ride...

I see no real reason to need to pick up any single level equipment for this -- that's just going to make it more expensive to operate vs. pulling three or four cars out of the suburban pool.

This is great news and really smart of the state to use their in-house railroad. I'm sure someone realized the cost to lease 2-3 motors at 30 years of age from Amtrak, along with 5-10 cars at the same age, was pretty astronomical compared with the same internal costs from Metra.

We also don't want to board these darn trains from Amtrak's Stalag 17 marching school. Hard pass on that one.

You can always change-order some of those new cars on order. An example was 2x1 seating and other creature comforts from Bombardier et.al. for the ACES Train for NJ Transit from 15 years ago.

Not likely because that creates a subfleet vs a very large pool... but never say never.

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HOnestly the Metra walkover seats are not bad, certainly better than the single-level NICTD cars fixed seats. You could take a ride to Rockford or Belvidere in them.

The walkover seats are being replaced with fixed seats during overhauls. The selling point apparently was a cupholder....

I had them a few times before I stopped riding the train in 2019. Not great on a 75 minute local, but trying to maintain the Haywood-Wakefield's was a lost cause.

That stinks. The walkovers were pretty decent seats. I'd rather see them fixed in place than removed if maintenance is a problem.

Tadman wrote: ↑Tue Feb 06, 2024 1:14 pm That stinks. The walkovers were pretty decent seats. I'd rather see them fixed in place than removed if maintenance is a problem.

I think the ex-BN car I rode in on my first Metra ride last year had the seats locked in place. I tried moving it and it jiggled a bit but wouldn’t really budge.

If it was a green bench, it was probably just broken.

My understanding is that only the Amerail-MK and Nippon-Sharyo cars going thru overhauls would be getting the new seats. When I was still riding, it didn't appear that Metra was investing anything into the Budds or Pullmans that wasn't necessary for safety purposes.

ILDOT project site is up:

https://www.chicagotorockfordrail.org/

They completed surveys for 50 crossings on the UPRR side. Target is class 4 (79mph) so there are plenty of cross-buck only crossings to upgrade, signals that need crossing gates, removal of any semi catching humps, and checking of road geometry and stop light timing to avoid a Fox River Grove. I assume IRM crossings would be tied into the circuits at aligned crossings.

ILDOT is working with Rockford, Belvidere and Huntley on station site assessments.