(The Chicago Daily Herald posted the following article by Robert McCoppin on its website on May 15.)
CHICAGO — Seeking an alternative to the car, suburban leaders Wednesday chose a proposed Metra train line as the preferred form of new mass transit along the Northwest Tollway.
Suburban mayors said they would try to get the train line built instead of proposals for Pace express buses or CTA elevated trains. The mayors said the Metra plan was the best way to connect suburbs to suburbs, to O’Hare International Airport, and to get Chicago residents to suburban jobs.
The Metra plan also had advantages of covering a large area – 21 miles – with a potential for high ridership, a low cost per mile, and the agency’s track record for implementing new rail lines.
The mayors also hope the plan will reduce traffic congestion on the tollway.
“Rail is something suburbanites prefer,” said Schaumburg Mayor Al Larson, chairman of the task force. “It gets people out of their cars.”
Metra’s self-propelled trains would run every 15 minutes or so along the tollway (I-90), from the CTA station in Rosemont to Sears headquarters in Hoffman Estates.
Then the trains would turn south on the Elgin, Joliet & Eastern Railway to Joliet.
Metra proposes using cars that have their own diesel engines underneath, in trains of three to seven cars, depending on the number of riders.
While such trains are common in Europe, they would be the first commuter line of their kind in the United States.
Representatives from 10 communities involved in the planning praised the Metra plan as a new vision for suburban commuters.
After initially planning to decide the issue in a closed meeting, the Northwest Transit Corridor Municipal Task Force opened the meeting to the public.
The task force is made up of representatives from Chicago and the nine suburbs along the tollway corridor: Rosemont, Des Plaines, Mount Prospect, Arlington Heights, Elk Grove village, Rolling Meadows, Schaumburg, Hoffman Estates, and Elgin.
The members unanimously supported the Metra plan, except for Chicago, which abstained.
Early on in the six-year process of studying the issue, several mayors had supported extending the CTA Blue Line from O’Hare to Schaumburg.
But when the CTA proposed extending the route through a new western terminal at O’Hare, it killed support from some mayors. Elk Grove Village Mayor Craig Johnson opposed tying the transit project to airport expansion, which would destroy some of his village’s property.
Each community is expected to pay the cost of building the 11 stations, at perhaps $5 million each.
Now the main obstacles will be getting $521 million in federal, state and local funding, plus additional costs of $250 million to $1 billion for changes to the tollway to make room for the train in the median.
Officials involved with the project have said there is room to run Metra trains down the median, though it might force a slight widening of the tollway that could force changes to interchange ramps.
Adding both the train line and an extra lane to the tollway in each direction would likely require widening overpasses, boosting the cost significantly.
The Illinois State Toll Highway Authority planned to widen the road in its 20-year plan, but spokeswoman Joelle McGinnis said the new tollway administration is reviewing the need for that.
Next, the Regional Transportation Authority, which oversees the transit project, is expected to approve selection of the Metra line June 5, and seek federal funding this fall.
If cost and logistics can be resolved, officials hope to build the train line in six to 10 years.