CTA Yellow Line ("Skokie Swift") is STILL indefinetely out of service

[Blutorse4792]

Back on May 18, a portion of the embankment carrying the Chicago Transit Authority's Yellow Line collapsed, due to construction at an adjacent water treatment plant.

Rail service is currently being substituted by buses, and while it is currently being repaired, there is no set date for the resumption of rail service.

The Yellow Line (formerly and colloquially still known as the "Skokie Swift") is a bit of an anomaly in the CTA network.
It's the only surviving portion of the Chicago, North Shore & Milwaukee Railway, an electric interurban line that was abandoned in 1963.
In 1964, the southernmost 5 miles of the CNS&M were taken over by the CTA, and operated as a non-stop "high-speed" (60-70mph in the old articulated 5000-series cars) shuttle service between its terminals at Dempster Street in Skokie, and Howard Street in Chicago.
From 1964 to 2004, half of the route was powered via ex-CNS&M catenary, making it the last CTA line utilize overhead wire after the Purple Line was converted to third-rail electrification in 1973.

I am somewhat concerned by this recent turn of events.
Our governor's proposed budget will make drastic cuts to public transportation in Illinois, with the CTA and Metra due to be hit particularly hard.
In previous budgetary p*ssing matches, the CTA has made it clear that they consider the Yellow Line to be expendable in the event of a bad financial crunch.

I'd like to think that's just typical Chicago political grandstanding, but here's to hoping that this bus substation isn't too convenient for commuters.


***


(for our non-American friends, 5 miles are roughly 8 kilometers, while 60-70mph is roughly 96-112kmh)

 

[JCitron]

Your governor is not well liked from what I've read... I too hope it's just grandstanding, however, I too smell an excuse to abandon the line here too. We've gone through this here as well with some outlying Green Line (trolley) lines that succumbed to so-called temporary cost-cutting closures, which extended to permanent closures afterwards as the NIMBYs preferred the stinky buses and cars over the faster trolleys.

John

 

[Blutorse4792]

On the bright side:

1. The CTA needs half of the route to reach one of their major repair shops (which was partly the original justification for buying the line in 1963)
2. The village of Skokie has been a major proponent of the line from the start and they've pumped tons of their own money into it

If they try to cut the service, it won't go out without a fight.

 

[JCitron]

On the bright side:

1. The CTA needs half of the route to reach one of their major repair shops (which was partly the original justification for buying the line in 1963)
2. The village of Skokie has been a major proponent of the line from the start and they've pumped tons of their own money into it

If they try to cut the service, it won't go out without a fight.

That's good news! Let's hope things go well.

However, my paranoid side sticks its head up... The Watertown branch for Boston's Green Line was in a similar situation. Passenger service ended in 1980 or so, and the line remained in place as a line strictly for the shops in Watertown, MA square. Then in 2000/2001 the inevitable happened, when the tracks were then lifted and the wires came down. There had been a push to reopen the line for revenue service, but the NIMBYs came out in throngs and brought their nasty lawyers with them. In the end we lost the Watertown branch as the "T" caved with its pro-bus management in charge.

What's interesting is shortly after the tracks were lifted, a fire or some other problem closed the other big shop in Newton. Any street cars then had to be trucked on flatbeds, which tied up traffic on I-95 and I-90 because they wouldn't fit down the narrow streets, and the bridge over the Mass. Pike (I-90) can't handle the weight of the trolley plus the trucks.

Just reward! Think of all those NIMBYs getting stuck in traffic on the interstates because the move was done at dawn just as rush hour was starting. Karma!


John

 

[Blutorse4792]

That's too bad about the Watertown Branch. It's often very hard to get rails back down once they've been torn up.

When the Skokie Swift was a big success, there was a push to extend it back over the North Shore R.O.W. (which was still largely intact at the time) to the county line (about 8 miles).
However, before either the CTA or the suburbs could get the funding and authorization to do so, the Chicago & Northwestern (long-time CNS&M rival) bought it, scrapped the electrical infrastructure and sold off the northbound track, allowing powerlines to be built over it. The C&NW didn't want their (then still privately owned and operated) commuter service competing with government subsidies.

Union Pacific has since abandoned the line, and the CTA has since proposed extending it, either as far as the Northbrook Court Mall (at the Lake-Cook County Line) or, more recently, another mall in northern Skokie. Both efforts were soundly defeated by NIMBY groups, and the old R.O.W. remains undeveloped.

If the Swift manages to hang on, I'd like to see it extended in my lifetime. If extended north to the county line, it could give commuters an alternative to the Edens Expressway, and, if extended south from Skokie, over an abandoned C&NW/UP industrial branch, it could meet up with the Blue Line and give the swanky North Shore suburbs a direct rail connection to O'Hare.

Of course, with Illinois economy and politics the way they are, that's likely to remain an, admittedly, rather expensive pipe-dream.

 

[JCitron]

...A lot of wishful thinking, I know!

Believe me this sounds all to familiar again. The management, politicians, and NIMBYs must all come from the same place!

The state of Massachusetts has railbanked a good hunk of ROW in Mass to the New Hampshire border. Over the past few years, however, the "T" management thought it was a great idea to sell some of the lines off to the Rail Trail groups. One of the lines to go was the former Manchester and Lawrence. the M&L is quite old as it dated back to 1841 and once connected the namesake cities in New Hampshire, and Mass. respectively. The southern portion of the M&L remained as an industrial branch as far as Salem, NH and ran a couple of miles over the border to the Windham Line. Over time the branch was cut back to southern Salem, NH to the Agway dealer at Salem Depot.

The freight service soldered on until Guilford did what they could to kill it including not performing any maintenance and allowed some washouts to occur along the Spickett River in Methuen. The MBTA (T) owned the portion to the state line and there was a proposal since the 1970s to put in a train station at Route 213, which is a bypass connector between I-495 and I-93. Both of these highways serve a large number of commuters, and Route 213 is equally jammed at rush hour. The station even appeared on commuter maps with the usual dotted line connecting to it and proposed in parentheses. In 2010 the a rail trail group, came in and convinced the T to sell off or lease the ROW to them and any remaining track was ripped up shortly after Guilford/Pan Am Railways abandoned the line. So much for a train station now on one of the busiest sections of highway in this state. The NIMBYs got what they want, and surely now that the tracks are gone there is no chance for the line being restored.

There are others like this not too far from where I live which truly sicken me to think of. Among them is what is now the Minuteman Bikeway from Bedford, MA to Cambridge. The line was once a freight and commuter line which fell into disrepair at the end. A proposal was made to extend the MBTA Red Line third-rail line up to Hanscom Field in Bedford, which has become a private airport as well as a remaining military field and base. The NIMBYs came out in their usual groups with lawyers and screamed loudly including outright racial statements about the line. So today, again the T caved and we have a bike trail into an area where the traffic is so unsafe I used to dread driving in there. I worked not too far from Hanscom and taught a piano student, also a rail fan and once worked for the railroad, and getting through Bedford Square was and is a truly dangerous situation. With places like this, I say let the NIMBYs choke on their own greed, but sadly we all suffer in the end.

John