Recent Streetsblog CHICAGO posts about Amtrak

Amtrak’s Hiawatha Line to Milwaukee Is Launching Roll-On Bike Service

By John Greenfield | May 2, 2016 | 10 Comments

It just keeps getting easier to combine bike and train trips in Chicago. Last month, after years of lobbying by advocates (including Streetsblog’s Steven Vance) the South Shore Line, which runs between Chicago and South Bend, Indiana, finally launched a bikes-on-board pilot. Now Amtrak, which already allows unboxed bikes on all routes within Illinois (reservations […]

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House Votes to Slash Amtrak Funding Just Hours After Horrible Crash

By Angie Schmitt | May 13, 2015 | No Comments

Just hours after seven people were killed and hundreds injured in an Amtrak derailment near Philadelphia, the U.S. House voted to cut funding for the passenger rail service. Early reports suggest the derailment was caused by excessive speed — exactly the type of crash that could be avoided with a new safety system that Amtrak is in […]

Union Station Study Will Look at Ways to Increase Capacity, Fight Congestion

By John Greenfield | Apr 10, 2015 | 1 Comment

This morning, local politicians heralded $7 million in new funding for a terminal planning study and service development plan that will help increase capacity at Chicago’s 90-year-old Union Station and on the rail lines that lead to it. This comes in addition to the $12 million that Amtrak pledged back in January for rehabbing the […]

Englewood Flyover Now Smoothing Out South Side Metra Rides

By Steven Vance | Oct 14, 2014 | 33 Comments

The Englewood Flyover train bridge unofficially opened three weeks ago, carrying test trains along the Metra Rock Island District tracts. The mile-long flyover, near 63rd Street and Wentworth Avenue, is one of the largest projects within CREATE, a larger program to untangle railroad flows around Chicago. The $141 million project could eliminate 7,500 hours of Metra delays each year that […]

Oil-Laden Freight Trains Delaying Amtrak, Commuter Trains Across U.S.

By Steven Vance and Payton Chung | Aug 14, 2014 | 52 Comments

Oil production is booming across North America, as new technologies make it possible to extract liquid crude oil from sources like the Bakken shale oil field in North Dakota and Montana, or Alberta’s tar sands. The ever-increasing volume of crude oil mined in remote Great Plains locations often finds its way to refineries via “rolling pipelines” – freight […]

Leave Traffic Behind With These 6 Car-Free, Carefree Beach Trips

By John Greenfield | Aug 13, 2014 | 24 Comments

If, like me, you optimistically view the summer as lasting until September 22, we’ve got more than five more weeks of beach season left. Still, time is running out for fun in the sun, so you should make a beeline for the shoreline as soon as possible. While people often gripe that Chicago has limited […]

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Amtrak to Begin Welcoming Bikes on Long-Distance Routes

By Angie Schmitt | Jun 24, 2014 | No Comments

The nation’s intercity passenger rail service just got a lot bike-friendlier. Amtrak announced last week that it is installing new baggage cars — equipped for bike storage — in all trains on its long-distance routes by year’s end. The change will allow Amtrak riders to “roll on” their bikes, rather than disassembling them and transporting them […]

Amtrak’s Boarding Procedure Brings the Stress of Airports to Trains

By Steven Vance | Dec 2, 2013 | 59 Comments

While intercity and long-distance train travel is on the rise in the United States, Amtrak could still do a lot more to improve the customer experience and boost ridership further. I’m new to using Amtrak, having only ridden it three times in my life, but I have experience riding European intercity and cross-continent trains. Last […]

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Smaller Cities Propel Amtrak Ridership to a New High

By Angie Schmitt | Oct 15, 2013 | No Comments

It’s been another year of ridership growth for Amtrak, despite the difficulties caused by Hurricane Sandy in the Northeast. In fiscal year 2013, the nation’s intercity rail service saw its 10th ridership increase in 11 years, carrying a record 31.6 million passengers [PDF]. The Northeast Corridor still accounts for a huge share of Amtrak’s total […]

Union Station Contest Will Add Pizzazz to an Underused Public Space

By John Greenfield | Jun 20, 2013 | 11 Comments

Chicago’s Union Station is a key national transportation hub and one of our city’s iconic structures, but in some ways it’s sadly underutilized. The Metropolitan Planning Council, a nonprofit that promotes sustainable transportation and development in the region, wants to change that. Their fifth annual placemaking contest, Activate Union Station, challenges Chicagoans to come up […]

Amtrak’s Bike-on-Train Success Should Inspire South Shore Line

By Steven Vance | Jun 6, 2013 | 9 Comments

Amtrak riders tested new bike racks in the snack car of a train to Michigan last month, as the railroad prepares to launch roll-on service for trains to Detroit, Grand Rapids, and Lansing. Derrick James, the director of government affairs for the central region of Amtrak, sent these photos of the event. This single-level Amtrak […]