The Purple Line, express service, Goose Island and West Loop development, and the South Side (Chicago: transfer to, neighborhoods)

[OyCrumbler]

I was thinking about the the topics in the title and how a transit expansion can bring these together.

The Purple Line runs down express tracks during peak travel periods and these are the only express tracks in the system. They don’t get much usage otherwise despite the burgeoning growth of north side communities and the long length it is from Wilmette to the Loop and that seems like a waste of already built infrastructure.

Meanwhile, Cabrini Green, Goose Island, River West, and West Loop are all entering into a heavy phase of of commercial and residential development that would need infrastructure to support it.

The South Side has the Green Line and Red Line going mostly due south and Orange Line going southwest, but a large expanse of neighborhoods in between that have little in rapid transit.

So I was thinking there’s a transit plan that makes sense in using a very under utilized set of tracks to serve the incoming development in parts of the city that are going to see heavy investment as well as serve currently underserved communities.

This plan is basically:

Run the Purple Line south of Howard at all times on the express tracks. At some point after the Armitage stop, the Purple Line diverges down Halstead and serves these new developments by going under Halstead with key stops at Division St and any stop with connecting rail transit on Halstead and at Randolph and using tunnel boring until at least a transfer to the Orange Line Halstead stop. This line continues to the South Side as far as funding can go with stops at every other superblock to at least 63rd, but hopefully beyond (into West Pullman would be great) as cut and cover construction. It’s every other super block to keep it speedy and because the density in that part of Chicago is lower.

The greater spacing of stops outside of the West Loop and the relatively straight path the line takes means the speed of the trains can be pretty quick. Running it really far south means that new train yards can be created in an area that is fairly inexpensive (and would provide much needed jobs).

The Purple Line then goes as an all day operation using the existing express tracks on the North Side, tunnel boring closer to the Loop, and then cut and cover subway the rest of the way south. The Yellow Line runs full car operations during peak commuting hours and basically “takes over” the current Purple Line operations from Howard St down to the Loop and back so existing commute latterna are still served while having this additional operation. The only commuters that sort of lose a bit are those who take the Purple Line above Howard St who use the service to the Loop during peak hours and nothing else. They will have to transfer to a Yellow or Brown Line at some point which is a relatively easy transfer. Meanwhile, other people on the current Purple Line get all day service into the North Side plus points beyond, Yellow Line riders get a one seat ride to the Loop, South Side gets a transit option it never had, commuters to/from the incoming developments get a route convenient to other parts of the city, and North Side residents get an express connection between points on the North Side.

[ChiGuy2.5]

You're way better off bringing it down Western. Otherwise, I think it's a pretty good idea to utilize the purple line trains.

[OyCrumbler]

Originally Posted by ChiGuy2.5

You're way better off bringing it down Western. Otherwise, I think it's a pretty good idea to utilize the purple line trains.

That’s an interesting crinkle to this. So if after Armitage, the Purple Line very soon diverts south, then the next station would likely need to be in the middle of Goose Island itself. After that, it’d continue south until it crosses underneath the river from Goose Island and continue down Ogden with multiple stops at Chicago (Blue Line), Union Park (though that green line transfer will be a bit of a distance, perhaps a pedestrian tunnel?), the medical district (transfer to Blue Line), and Roosevelt before making a turn due south at Western to then make a stop connecting to either or both the Western Metra stop and Western Pink line (three shorter blocks away from each so maybe another pedestrian tunnel with the platform in between), and then continuing south from there with stops placed at Blue Island, Archer, Western Orange Line station, Garfield and then stops being a bit further spaced from there on south with every other or every third super block. If you extend past city boundaries to the Blue Island Metra stop and beyond across the Calumet River out of Chicago city boundaries, you have ample space to build a new railyard.

You get a route with more twists and turns, but if the stations are placed near where those turns are made, which it looks like it would be, then it won’t make as much of a difference in average train speeds. It does serve parts of the South Side that are the furthest out from subway stations. You lose the connection to the Green Line on 63rd, but it might be possible in the future to have that stub end descend at the terminus to a subway and extend out to Westen as well. You lose the close stop to Cabrini Green, but get a direct shot at the medical district developments as well as a faster route to a Midway Airport via transfer to the Orange Line at the Western Orange Line stop. The biggest con is that it diverts further out from the Loop and all the jobs that are between Eisenhower and the Chicago River, but perhaps the other positives make up for it.

The other possibility is to actually diverge further east and have the Purple Line go down tunnels on Clinton or Canal Street allowing for direct connections to Union Station and Ogilvie, crossing the Chicago River into Chinatown and taking Archer Avenue parallel to the orange Line before diverting due south somewhere such as Ashland or Western. This serves the core of the job center, uses the underutilized express tracks and brings rapid transit service to the South Side as well, but does less in serving some of the new developments.

I think a case for any of the three can be made though.

[ChiGuy2.5]

This is what I was thinking. Something like this, maybe without the extra tail to the end of the red line.

[chirack]

Here is my take, hop a bus. Halsted isn’t very far west and it isn’t a far bus ride from the red line in most of Chicago not to mention the fact that a number of west bond El lines have stops on or near this street. The areas that you mentioned are not that far from the EL if you consider using the lowly bus. If you need to commute from Wilmette to the loop, use the UP North line, it is faster.

Subways are very expensive and that would likely not be the choice for extending anything that far in the city. Cut and cover is VERY disruptive.

The reason why those tracks don’t get much use is because the Purple line competes with the Red line, the Brown line and the UP North line. Only at times of very high ridership(i.e. rush hour) does it make any sense to run the Purple line to the loop. At other times the train would not generate enough passengers to justify the route and likely pull passengers from both Red and Brown lines. That is why there is no all day service to the loop on this line.

[OyCrumbler]

Originally Posted by chirack

Here is my take, hop a bus. Halsted isn’t very far west and it isn’t a far bus ride from the red line in most of Chicago not to mention the fact that a number of west bond El lines have stops on or near this street. The areas that you mentioned are not that far from the EL if you consider using the lowly bus. If you need to commute from Wilmette to the loop, use the UP North line, it is faster.

Subways are very expensive and that would likely not be the choice for extending anything that far in the city. Cut and cover is VERY disruptive.

The reason why those tracks don’t get much use is because the Purple line competes with the Red line, the Brown line and the UP North line. Only at times of very high ridership(i.e. rush hour) does it make any sense to run the Purple line to the loop. At other times the train would not generate enough passengers to justify the route and likely pull passengers from both Red and Brown lines. That is why there is no all day service to the loop on this line.

I understand why they haven't had all day service in decades, but the North Side has been seeing its population and ridership grow by a lot--I don't think that's going to stop anytime soon.

[glass_of_merlot]

I think they need some red and blue line connections.

[chirack]

Originally Posted by OyCrumbler

I understand why they haven't had all day service in decades, but the North Side has been seeing its population and ridership grow by a lot--I don't think that's going to stop anytime soon.

Actually there has never been all day service on that line in the form of the Evanston Express. The tracks were built pre CTA the company that built them decided to lay 4 tracks down instead of 2. The Green line original had 3 tracks(reduced to 2 post reconstruction).

Anyway at one time the train from Linden(the line terminated there in 1912) ran all the way to the Jackson Park station on the South side(now gone), the North Shore line(different from Metra) shared those tracks and ran from Milwaukee to the loop and later Jackson Park allowing one to board a train to another city on the loop! The brown line would terminate on the Kenwood branch(a now gone short south side line) and the state street subway did not exist(won't open till 1943). The 4 tracks were to allow express operations esp. for the North Shore line but they didn't create a short cut to the Northside with them.

The Purple line as we know it today began when the CTA reorganized the lines in 1949. The CTA created a shuttle service between Linden and Howard that ran express to the loop over the old north side mainline only during rush hour. From time to time over the years they have tried non-rush hour service as an experiment but it never justifies the cost. There is basically a very slight increase in ridership but not enough to justify running the line all day. The most they have done is extend it's hours of operation by about an hour.

The other change at that time was to send the Train from Howard to Jackson Park or Englewood(now parts of the green line) via the subway and reroute the Brown line(from Kimbal) to the loop via the main line instead of the subway. The Red line(and lines called by color) as we know it was created in the 90ies.

[OyCrumbler]

Originally Posted by chirack

Actually there has never been all day service on that line in the form of the Evanston Express. The tracks were built pre CTA the company that built them decided to lay 4 tracks down instead of 2. The Green line original had 3 tracks(reduced to 2 post reconstruction).

Anyway at one time the train from Linden(the line terminated there in 1912) ran all the way to the Jackson Park station on the South side(now gone), the North Shore line(different from Metra) shared those tracks and ran from Milwaukee to the loop and later Jackson Park allowing one to board a train to another city on the loop! The brown line would terminate on the Kenwood branch(a now gone short south side line) and the state street subway did not exist(won't open till 1943). The 4 tracks were to allow express operations esp. for the North Shore line but they didn't create a short cut to the Northside with them.

The Purple line as we know it today began when the CTA reorganized the lines in 1949. The CTA created a shuttle service between Linden and Howard that ran express to the loop over the old north side mainline only during rush hour. From time to time over the years they have tried non-rush hour service as an experiment but it never justifies the cost. There is basically a very slight increase in ridership but not enough to justify running the line all day. The most they have done is extend it's hours of operation by about an hour.

The other change at that time was to send the Train from Howard to Jackson Park or Englewood(now parts of the green line) via the subway and reroute the Brown line(from Kimbal) to the loop via the main line instead of the subway. The Red line(and lines called by color) as we know it was created in the 90ies.

That's some good history, thanks!

I'm curious as to when was the last time they tried to extend Purple Line hours as North Side ridership has been steadily growing.

I think an all (except late night) Purple Line extension that takes advantage of current express line infrastructure is best and having an extension routed through areas that are currently growing or targeted to be growing as well as with as many other rail transit connections as possible makes sense especially if they bypass the loop.

So with that, I think an all day express running Purple Line takes the express tracks, including taking the "express tracks" that the Red Line serves at Belmont and points south (perhaps that's only for rush hour) and follows the Red Line down from there until just past North/Clyburn. After North/Clyburn, this Purple Line splits from the line and starts heading down Halstead with spots that are roughly one and a half to two Chicago "superblocks" apart from each other and with a distribution favoring other transit connections. This underground line is tunnel bored until it hits less dense parts of the South Side where cut and cover is used and are meant to help drive development in those area and to serve the currently underserved of the region. It's good that it's placed that close to the Red Line, I think, because there needs to be a pretty decent collection of assets to ever jumpstart and turn things around. Having the Purple Line extension on the South Side be too far removed seems to run a much greater risk of being pretty isolated in what aid it can provide.

The stations after North/Clyburn as follows (all on Halstead):

- Division: serves the coming Goose Island developments and the northwestern stretch of Cabrini Green redevelopment

- Grand: connects to the Blue Line stop

- Randolph: serves the growing West Loop / Fulton Market area

- Congress/Harrison: connects to Blue Line stop, serves Greek Town and UIC

- 16th Street: connects to Metra Halstead stop, serves Pilsen

- Archer Avenue: connects to Orange Line, serves Bridgeport

- 31st/32nd Street: serves Bridgeport commercial strip

- Pershing Road: buses and large areas nearby that might make sense for TOD

- 47th Street: buses and large areas nearby that might make sense for TOD

- Garfield Boulevard: buses and large areas nearby that might make sense for TOD

- 63rd Street: connection to Green Line and large areas nearby that might make sense for TOD

- 71st Street

- 79th Street

- 87th Street: connection to Metra Gresham station

Maybe continuing the every other superblock down even further south? It might even make sense to extend further, not necessarily for the service, but because of being able to build a new train yard far out from the city center and more densely populated areas. It's part of the rationale for why many subway line in Spanish cities were extended as far out as they were as at that point it was actually economically a better idea and helped future-proof for growth (plus, it's cheaper to just get it extended and done rather to have to come back to extend some time in the future).

If it does go further south, then:

- 95th Street

- 103rd Street

- 111th Street

- West Pullman: connecting to Metra West Pullman station

Additionally, the Yellow Line should have full traincar sets during rush hour service (even though the platforms on the Skokie Swift line can't serve all the cars on such trainsets) and the Yellow Line should essentially run the Purple Lines rush hour service from Howard on down. There are two reasons for this--one is that the "local" stops that the current Brown/Purple line serves still get the same level of service, and two, apparently the coming in and then backing back out operation the Skokie Swift currently does at Howard actually really jams things up.

This routing has further spaced stations due to use of existing express routes and further spacing for new stations and is a mostly straight route with very few curves allowing for a fast and efficient service. It serves as a relief for the crowded North Side stations, gives access to growing parts of the city that have more limited access to transit, has many connections to existing rail lines so that there’s a less circuitous route for people going to these new areas without sending more traffic through the Loop, and gives access to underserved communities on the South Side that might spur redevelopment.

[pvande55]

The next project likely to go I Ravenswood flyover. The next, in planning, is the Rsd line to 130th Street. Goose Island express is way down on the list. Of course, if Amazon chooses Goose Island, that could change.