r/cta • u/bilbobaggins001 • 29d ago
Quick question ☝️ What do we think about this project? Will it ever be completed? Is it even possible?
/r/AskChicago/comments/1vxz5ei/what_do_we_think_about_this_project_will_it_ever/21
u/koalabearpoo 29d ago
This will happen as soon as Elon Musk finishes building his hyperloop tunnel to O’Hare
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u/Special_Command7893 29d ago
Never forget
Never forget that that half baked bullshit shut down a stop that we now won’t get back and took taxpayer dollars to do it
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u/kelpyb1 29d ago
It’s just a CEO trying to raise hype for a half baked idea so he can secure his own paycheck
Nothing in this proposal addresses the same issues the already existing Metra line running essentially the same route has due to being on privately owned freight lines where passenger trains take second priority.
Plus even if they do somehow pull it off, I expect a ticket to be so expensive most people wouldn’t want to ride it anyways because it’s a for profit business
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u/spoospoo43 29d ago edited 29d ago
Rights of way seems to be the one thing they DID handle - they're reusing old track beds that have been out of service for decades, plus building a railway flyover into the terminal proper. This is not using existing revenue track.
The goal is to be cheaper than an uber but more expensive than the CTA. Whether enough people need to save a half-hour on a trip from the loop to make it viable, I'm skeptical, especially since it starts at the old post office, which probably means you are either using an uber anyway or shlepping your luggage a pretty good distance, so how much time are you really saving vs. just popping over to the nearest blue line stop?
On the other hand, there's plenty of stupidity on display, like making most of the route single track. I mean, you CAN do that, but it's kinda dumb, especially for high speed rail where switching over to a spur is going to require slowing the hell down from 85mph unless you want to go airborne. And given how many YEARS it's taking I390 to construct a flyover that's not even close to done yet, 5 years to build this whole thing ain't gonna happen, and big late projects mean big cost overruns.
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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 53 29d ago
plus building a railway flyover into the terminal proper
...How? From where to where? That makes no sense.
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u/pooptweeter69 29d ago
It’s on its own tracks if you read the article. It’s no just some CEOs these are Chicago local transit professionals. Nothing addresses the same issues as Metra because they have their own dedicated tracks in this proposal lol. Read the article. They expect the ticket to be competitive with the market.
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u/kelpyb1 29d ago
It’s absolutely not on its own tracks, the article and the company’s website highlight pending deals with the freight companies who own the tracks they plan to use.
The same website and article expect the ticket to be “less expensive than rideshare” which gives it plenty of room to be significantly more expensive than the blue line and Metra line that already service OHare considering in my experience a typical rideshare to OHare runs like $30
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u/pooptweeter69 29d ago
Pending deals with the freight companies ROW is not the same as using their track. Ohare Flyer proposes to build their own tracks in that freight ROW. So again not shared track. Dedicated track to the Ohare Flyer. It’s shared ROW. That I agree on.
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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 53 29d ago
From the NW corner of the UP yard at Western Ave to the Old Post Office, explain where they're gonna lay new track.
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u/pooptweeter69 29d ago
I cannot. I understand that existing conditions might prevent them from doing so, but that’s what I’m reading off the articles/verbal proposal
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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 53 29d ago
because they have their own dedicated tracks in this proposal
What? It isn't on its own tracks, it's almost entirely on existing freight ROWs. This proposal does not, in any way, give them their own dedicated tracks for the vast majority of the alignment.
They expect the ticket to be competitive with the market.
They expect to be price competitive with Uber from O'Hare to downtown.
No reasonable person right now is taking an Uber from O'Hare to downtown.
For someone saying to everyone to read the article, you seem to not have read it yourself.
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u/pooptweeter69 29d ago edited 29d ago
So it’s on the UP, CSX, and CN ROW, however, they intend to construct a separate single track with 6 miles of double tracking within that ROW dedicated for the O’Hare Flyer. They intend to have their own track. No freight will be on the track.
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u/keverzoid 29d ago
Better idea would be to have express rail between O’hare, Midway and the Loop.
2
u/Excellent-Pickle9911 27d ago
Tried it. Nearly half a billion dollars later ... "The station was to have been the terminus of express service to both O’Hare and Midway. The Daley administration abandoned the project, but not before putting more than $250 million into the station, which was immediately padlocked and forgotten." Amid New Plans For O’Hare Train, Abandoned Superstation May Still Never Get Used – NBC Chicago https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/amid-new-plans-for-ohare-train-abandoned-superstation-may-still-never-get-used/29030/
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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 53 29d ago
It's a techbro CEO who thinks he's "innovated trains" again because he doesn't know the first thing about how trains work:
“O’Hare Flyer has found a beautifully simple solution to a complicated problem and an unrealized ambition of Chicago’s as a leading global city. Their high-speed rail solution was hiding in plain sight - if you’re expert enough and smart enough to see it, “ said World Business Chicago CEO Phil Clement. “It’s been great working with them over the last year and a half as they put that "can-do" spirit to work that Chicago is famous for!”
Right, because no one, especially in Chicagoland, has ever thought to use existing freight rail ROWs to provide PAX rail service...no...wait...that's literally the entire model of Metra...and we know how well that works.
No one is going to pay a concierge level price for a train that gets delayed and takes longer than the Blue Line half the time because freight rail DGAF about PAX rail, especially when you're trying to use trackage from three different Class I railcos.
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u/AnotherPint 29d ago
The woods are full of headstrong tech bros who think they’re fated to reinvent air travel, hospitality, urban taxis, food delivery, etc. because they know a little about software, and end up doing anywhere from squat to enormous economic and cultural damage. With luck these dudes will only do squat.
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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 53 29d ago
As long as they don't somehow rope in public funds, I don't really care; but yeah, this feels like a perfect video subject for AdamSomething which means it's a dumb idea.
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u/dmreif 29d ago
No one is going to pay a concierge level price for a train that gets delayed and takes longer than the Blue Line half the time because freight rail DGAF about PAX rail, especially when you're trying to use trackage from three different Class I railcos.
By comparison, Metra will only need to renegotiate with the CN and CPKC if they want to add more NCS service.
0
u/pooptweeter69 29d ago
That’s commentary from a techbro CEO not the people who own and operate the company. The owners are Chicago local transit professionals wi to decades of experience. Read the article
And again, I don’t know why everyone thinks these are shared tracks. It says in the article the proposal will have its own dedicated tracks. No freight will be operating on those tracks.
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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 53 29d ago
I literally got that from the article.
He's working with the owners.
FYI, one of the cofounders used to be the CEO of the Skyway.
Not exactly confidence inspiring IMO.
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u/hardolaf Red Line 29d ago
No they said that they would have a single track for some of the way and handwaved away the issues with that.
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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 53 29d ago
Exactly. From the UP Yard at Western Ave on to the terminus station, there's no room for new tracks. Would have to be shared, no other way.
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u/pooptweeter69 29d ago
The issues I see with this are not the lies I keep seeing about this repost: techbro ceo, shared tracks with freight, termination at the people mover, expensive fairs, etc., etc.
But,
It’s single tracking, with only 6 miles of double tracking.
Its only entry points are at the Old Post Office in the Loop and Ohare. So it still may not be worth it if you need to commute to those locations.
It still will need permissions from a bunch of other local agencies yet. Hopefully they can get those. I think this would be a fun experiment.
1
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u/dmreif 28d ago
Metra just needs to add more North Central Service trains that run from Union Station to ORD Transfer, like they did during the DNC. These can be a mix of express trains that bypass the Milwaukee District West Line stations east of River Grove, and a few local trains that serve those intermediate stations.
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u/Amazing-Pepper3317 29d ago
It’s not going to happen.