Quote:
Originally Posted by ardecila
Yes, north of Lake Bluff. This suggests a French-style approach in which electrification might only extend to Lake Forest, where the local trains would terminate, and a small number of diesel or dual-mode trains would go all the way to Kenosha. Metro-North also does this, so it's not just a European thing.
That said, Union Pacific might oppose electrification.
The best candidates for electrification are the lines that Metra already owns. The Milwaukee District lines see substantial freight traffic from CP, so that poses a problem. That leaves Southwest Service, which is technically owned by NS but is used and maintained exclusively by Metra, except for a short stretch on the South Side that NS uses for yard access.
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That (and the Stradler Flirt idea) is just tantalizing. But may I make the observation that electrification introduces a spider's web of catenary and support pillars, along with other electrical, that I have a strong sense would be viscerally opposed by North Shore communities, and fought off as a "blight". Never mind that the eardrum-splitting diesel noise would disappear for good and shiny new railcars introduced and (I assume) acceleration/deceleration distances improved and (I assume) energy efficiency would be gained. Sometimes society just can't win for losin'.
What would be the reasons that UP itself would oppose electrification - maintenance costs and snowstorm outages?