by Aaron M. Renn
Chronicling life riding the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA)
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There is a new book out called "Moonlight in Duneland: The Illustrated History of the Chicago South Shore and South Bend Railroad", edited by Steve McShane and Ronald Cohen. Chicago transit buffs and railfans might want to check this one out (and let me know what you think if you do). According to the Sun-Times write-up, it includes 38 full color reproductions of the awesome posters that advertised South Shore service in the late 1920's.
I missed this one, but John Kuczaj (nospam-jfkuczaj@hotmail.com) wrote in to tell me that CTA president Frank Kruesi was on Chicago Tonight last week defending the city's contribution to the CTA. Kruesi claimed that the city actually constributes more than $3 million a year and cited such contributions as $20 million per year for security and $200 million to pay for the Orange Line construction. [ I'd have to do some digging, but my first impression is that Kruesi is full of it. For example, the city was the lead agency on the Orange Line project, but I believe virtually all of the funding came from federal, not local sources and the city was just a conduit for it. Regardless, it is odd that Kruesi would defend the city at the same time he is blasting the federal and state governments for not giving the CTA more. Or perhaps it's not odd, since he and Daley go way back together. - AMR ]
Amtrak announced this week that it is investing $25 million to help prepare for high speed rail in the Midwest. One of the projects is a new connector on the South Side that will allow trains to bypass the St. Charles Air Line and avoid having to turn around to enter the station. This will reduce travel times by twenty minutes on some routes. It should also help reduce delays on some Metra routes such the the BNSF. While these trains will not use the connector, they do suffer delays when Amtrak trains turn around near the station. [ Source: Amtrak press release, 28 Jan 1999 ] URL: http://www.amtrak.com/news/pr/atk9917.html
The federal government has designated the Chicago-Indianapolis-Cincinnati route as an official high speed rail corridor. This makes the project eligible for federal funding, but does not actually provide any money. The route to Indianapolis is projected to be the most profitable route on the proposed seven spoke Midwest high speed rail network. [ Source: The Indianapolis Star, 26 Jan 1999 ] URL: http://www.starnews.com/news/business/99/jan/0126SN_rail.html
Metra's body count for 1999 is up to five after a pedestrian was killed by a train in Oak Forest. A woman was crossing the tracks in Oak Forest about 7am when she was struck by a Metra Rock Island District train. [ Source: Chicago Tribune, 25 Jan 1999 ]
Metra was not alone in the fatal accident department. A woman was killed on Friday when she fell in front of a Blue Line train. This resulted in a temporary suspension of service during the investigation. [ Source: Chicago Tribune, 29 Jan 1999 ]
Jon Hilkevitch's column from last week included several letters from irate Metra riders who were concerned that agency was being let off too lightly for its dismal snow storm performance. One person said his train was running on the wrong main, but there was no announcement about it. So when the train stopped at the opposite platform, all the people who wanted to board were still on the normal platform, but had no way to cross because the train was blocking all the crosswalks. [ Source: Chicago Tribune, 18 Jan 1999 ]
Amanda Cohen (nospam-amanda@enteract.com) wrote in with this very interesting bus tale:
"I was on the 22 Clark bus. I'd gotten on downtown, after watching the usual four or five 36 Broadway buses go by. (I go all the way to Montrose, so I need to take the 22).
Normally, the routes of 22 and 36 are pretty much the same on most of Clark, except that the 36 bears right onto Broadway at Diversey. Imagine our surprise when the 22 made that right onto Broadway. Half a dozen riders jumped up to ask the busdriver what bus this was! The driver looked surprised, then said 'Oh, I forgot which bus I was driving.' Then he stayed on Clark until Belmont, where he turned west to get back onto Clark. I felt bad for anyone on Clark between Diversey and Belmont who had been waiting a long time for that bus! Especially the folks at the Clark/Belmont stop, who got to see their bus show up behind them, and then take off!"
The one came to me from D. Roberts (nospam-bacchus29@aol.com) with the subject "Still standing at sheridan":
"Yesterday, January 26th, at about 3.15pm on the Red Line going north we sat at the Sheridan station for almost 10 minutes with the doors closed and people outside banging and making motions for inside passengers to pull the release handles above the doors. A CTA employee walked up and down the station with a radio in hand. Our car's entertainment was an apparent heroin addict who strung together all of the lyrics from Prince songs that he could remember into one painful medley... loud and in a falsetto voice... eventually we pulled out of the station a few yards to sit still for a few more minutes. After the next stop we became an express train to Morse, which surprised not a few passengers. Nothing like a ride on CTA."
The Weekly Breakdown is a small Internet journal devoted to the trials and tribulations of being a regular rider of the Chicago Transit Authority. I would be happy to hear about and include your experiences. Just send mail to breakdown@urbanophile.com.
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