Quote:
Originally Posted by ardecila
Point taken. It's endlessly frustrating that Metra essentially ignores everything between the downtown terminals and the city line. I might have been compensating for this a little bit by intentionally downplaying the Loop.
Do you think a station with sufficient capacity could be built in the Loop? It would instantly become one of, if not the busiest station on the system. I'm trying to figure out where you'd put it... beneath Monroe from State to Clark? Then, how would you approach a Monroe subway from the various rail lines leading into the Central Area? Turn radii are severely constrained by the deep foundations of skyscrapers (a problem that Paris doesn't have).
For comparison, the curve leading into the north end of Union Station is roughly 375'. Shorter rolling stock might allow for tighter curves, but you don't wanna get railcars as short as the L, since they're not really comfortable at high speeds.
|
The curves are definitely an issue, one that I'm not really qualified to address properly. I suppose I would assume they would do their turns outside of the high-rise district but I do recognize that I may be naive about how much can be engineered around existing structures.