As the Occupy movement continues, we could not help but notice a little protest going on in the Museum of Science and Industry---and we mean, very little, just an inch or two in height. more ›

If America is rethinking movie ticket pricing, sigh, why stop there? Over at Urbanophile, they are thinking about Amtrak. And specifically, the Hiawatha Line, which runs from Union Station to Milwaukee (and soon all the way to Madison —hey, go see some wolves!) for a very reasonable $22. The route is by far the most popular Amtrak service out of Chicago with a record 783,060 trips taken last year. Given the ongoing highway construction season on I-94, that number may continue to increase this year. We have taken the Hiawatha many times and never had a quibble with the price, but Urban Milwaukee writer Jeramey Jannene thinks that a more interesting (and complicated) model might push ridership to ever-more dazzling heights (off-hours discounts seem pretty natural and the Megabus model is interesting). more ›

On March 27 the Illinois Railway Museum sponsored what they called a "Snowflake Special Tour" in which they led a guided tour of the entire lengths of the Blue, Green, Red, Orange and Pink Lines. The monies raised by this are going towards helping to restore two 2200 series rail cars for the museum, located in downstate Union. Here's video of the Orange Line run to Midway Airport. Sit back; this is pretty lengthy. more ›

Have any of you had a chance to ride in the new "L" cars? We've had a couple of opportunities to do so and, by God, if we weren't spoiled by the experience. It isn't first class travel, but compared to the current train cars, the new cars are an extravagance. The seats are laid out in a common sense manner to accommodate more passengers, are well-lighted and clean. more ›

The widow of former Metra Chief Phil Pagano, who committed suicide in May walking in front of a train as the Metra board of directors were set to fire him for embezzling $475,000 in unearned pay, was awarded an $80,000-a-year pension as a survivor benefit. more ›

In honor of National Train Day on Saturday, we have decided to momentarily set aside any frustrations we may have with Chicago-area trains and remember why the rails are such an enduring and ideal form of transportation. Vice President Joe Biden loves trains - why shouldn't we? more ›

The Illinois Rail Museum will host a fundraiser Sunday, March 28, with a chartered ride on nearly every rail line of the CTA, as well as "non-revenue" lines and rail yards, on a four car train of 2200-series cars built by Budd, the oldest CTA cars in service. (Just like riding the Blue Line to work!) Those cars are scheduled for retirement, to be replaced by 5000-series cars. The event, which costs $42 a ticket, will raise funds to pay for indoor storage of the IRM's cream-and-green 2000 series L cars from the 1960s. more ›

The CTA's plans to have at least one high-definition camera installed at every rail station by this summer continue moving forward. This week, the org came a little closer to that goal by installing cameras at 24 Green Line stations. The system now has 1,657 cameras installed at 73 rail stations; there are 144 total stations. The CTA is also launching a pilot program this spring to determine how feasible it is to retrofit existing rail cars with cameras. New rail cars come equipped with cameras already installed. more ›

Eight Midwest states are busy readying another high-speed rail project proposal in the hopes of getting a piece of the $8 billion in funding set aside by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The proposal, which is due Oct. 2, uses Chicago as a hub for a Midwestern high-speed rail system that would connect most of the major cities in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, and Missouri. The trains would travel 110 mph, compared to a current top speed of 79 mph for most Amtrak trains in the area, according to an article by NPR. more ›

Mega, two-mile-long trains may be choo choo choosing Illinois in the near future, and some people aren't too thrilled about it—people who, say, have to drive across railroad crossings, or anyone who might need an ambulance that would have to cross one. A new report says that if Canadian Nation buys EJ&J's tracks, "motorists would face lengthy delays at 15 rail crossings in a dozen Chicago-area communities," and 10 communities' emergency response dispatches would have to change. Instead of having 6 trains go through every day, Frankfort would see 28; Plainfield's rail traffic could go from 18 trains per day to 42. Previously... [Trib]
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Today's "learn something new every day" moment comes from a surprisingly interesting NPR story about the congestion nightmare that is Chicago's railways. more ›

I was just writing Extra, Extra because I thought it was 6 o'clock. D'oh, it's only 5! And if you think that's a bummer, just be glad you're not taking Metra's Union Pacific West line. more ›