Study supports new Metra line to southeast Chicago suburbs

Choo Choo!

When those Commuter trains get to Dolton Junction, have fun getting thru that mess (where several rail lines intersect)! Also, how are they going to route commuter trains around the RR Yard in Dolton? Maybe they can divert onto the former Grand Trunk in South Holland and be dropped off at the former IC (Metra Electric) in Harvey, or continue on to the former Rock Island District or some other Metra Service Line! If they can get commuter service service down to Crete, Beecher, etc., great, but the routing, should it have to go up through Dolton, will be competing with some serious freight service. To get around or over it will be costly!

Intriguing wrote:

When those Commuter trains get to Dolton Junction, have fun getting thru that mess (where several rail lines intersect)! Also, how are they going to route commuter trains around the RR Yard in Dolton? Maybe they can divert onto the former Grand Trunk in South Holland and be dropped off at the former IC (Metra Electric) in Harvey, or continue on to the former Rock Island District or some other Metra Service Line! If they can get commuter service service down to Crete, Beecher, etc., great, but the routing, should it have to go up through Dolton, will be competing with some serious freight service. To get around or over it will be costly!

If you do have access to the internet look at the full story with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (Oct 22, 2009) and it will explain how this route will work. I have seen several different routes and I am a Dolton resident. Good luck

anticipated rider wrote:

<quoted text>If you do have access to the internet look at the full story with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen (Oct 22, 2009) and it will explain how this route will work. I have seen several different routes and I am a Dolton resident. Good luck

Thanks, I reread the article and found a map of the route. It's proposed for that line to connect with the Rock Island at Greshahm. However, it does not address the complications of getting around the RR Yard in Dolton or getting through Dolton Junction! IMHO, a bridge will be needed to be built to go over Dolton Junction to be a success or it will be facing many delays! It has been said that 120 trains a day go through that area a day. I'm sure that you will agree with that living in Dolton!(Notorious for getting stuck by trains!) Happy New Years!

After the Right of Way goes through Dolton JCT, over the Calumet River, passed 130th ST, some serious thought ought to be given to connecting with the South Shore which connects with the Metra Electric at Kensington. It can even be an express train that goes non-stop from 115th St to downtown using the same tracks as Amtrak!

That's if Dolton goes along with this. Think of all the people that will be able to commute to downtown Chicago (especially if it is hooked up to the South Shore and Metra/Blue Island). Then maybe if you wanted you could connect to the other lines and if necessary issue a grant for taxi liveries so that people could go to other towns and be able to get home. For instance, you are downtown and you want to go to Hegewisch for dinner, there would be taxis, so that you could make it home. SOMEBODY WILL BE ABLE TO MAKE IT SO THAT IF YOU WANT TO GET HOME IT WILL HAPPEN with public transportation. I look at it this way--hopefully, we will be able to walk around after these crumbumbs go to another section and cause grief if they must but out of our Dolton...Happy New Year!!