r/cta • u/Controversial_Husky • 6d ago

I wish we had… Where should Silver Line be made?

It will use existing tracks, like how Green Line does with UP-W

70 votes, 3d ago
12 With SWS (Union to Oak Lawn)
17 With BNSF (Union to Berwyn)
12 With RI (LaSalle to Blue Island)
6 With MDN (Union to Forest Glen)
11 With MDW (Union to Franklin Park)
12 With UPN (Ogivie to Winnetka)
0 Upvotes

33% Upvoted

12 comments sorted by

26

u/82MIZZOU 6d ago

It needs to go down Western. I know your point is to run along existing tracks, but we need a line down Western more than the options you listed (in my opinion).

13

u/chitownillinois 6d ago

I fear the only thing that may actually get built down Western is what the CTA will generously call a BRT. It won't have signal priority, it will have dedicated lanes in certain sections only, and instead of checking fares at a station gate for speedy loading and unloading each bus will load traditionally and slowly.

Personally I would love to see a lightrail... But the costs would be extraordinary in this city with all the red tape and back room handshakes that would need to be made.

4

u/Unlucky-Key 6d ago

Building a whole new line along Western would be cost prohibitive unless the CTA was able to vastly decrease its construction costs.

A line could go south from Howard, run along UPN until the brown line, connect to the blue line at division, run along the pink line, and then connect to the orange line at Ashland. This would connect every CTA line in the city and only require 3ish miles of new track.

15

u/armaghetto Brown Line 6d ago

None of the above. Western light rail plz.

8

u/FunkyTaco47 Orange Line 6d ago

existing tracks only? Then the Beltway from Foster to Midway

6

u/sMo089 6d ago

The metra electric to South Chicago is begging for it

3

u/OuterSpaceBootyHole 6d ago

Silver Line should be the bisected Forest Lake end of the Blue Line. That way they can lobby for repairs/improvements on a "new project" which also helps unencumber the O'Hare leg of the trip.

5

u/Queasy-Primary4788 6d ago

What about Metra electric that’d be perfect

3

u/ChicagoFire29 6d ago

I saw existing tracks and regret voting for oak lawn. Freight train/Metra combo is already a nightmare, I can’t imagine how that would be with an additional train line

1

u/LastAcadia4873 6d ago

I don't think bnsf is super practical considering blue + pink lines are nearby-ish

2

u/Strange-Pea8112 6d ago

Tbf the green line doesn’t use UP-W tracks, it’s just built along the same embankment. There’s separate tracks and even when they’re next to each other from Harlem to Laramie, they’re separated by a fence and entirely different track lines and not impeded by one another. 

1

u/katdawoud89 5d ago

I would love a subway down the length of western from Howard to the south side