Chicago`s Commuter Rail Tradition - The Community Transportation

Transcription

Photo courtesy Metra
By Gena Holle
Chicago’s Commuter
Rail Tradition:
The Return of
Rail-Oriented
Development
16
“Oh, we’re just following the train
line. We’re looking for a residence
where we can walk to the train,
we’ve heard about your traffic
in Chicago,” the house-hunting
couple told Louise McCormick,
Sales Manager for Station Square
at Prairie Crossing. That’s a typical
response, says McCormick, when
she asks people how they found the
condominium project steps from
Prairie Crossing station on Metra’s
North Central Service Line. Answers
like that validate the importance
passenger rail can play in
community development in a world
with skyrocketing gasoline prices
and long, exhausting automobile
commutes.
Metra: Successor to Chicago’s
Rail Heritage
Ranking second only to New York
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City’s Long Island and Metro North
railroads, Metra trains move more
than 300,000 riders on weekdays.
The system boasts 11 lines serving
238 stations over 565 miles of track
in six counties in Illinois and one in
Wisconsin. 735 trains provide service
every weekday, with 303 of those
operating on Saturdays and 180 on
Sundays and holidays. At the same
time, more than 96 percent of its
trains operate on schedule.
Metra calls upon a distinct fleet
of locomotives and coaches to serve
its network that is rooted in the
Chicagoland’s railroading heritage.
The numerous privately-owned
railroads operating commuter
service around Chicago found the
best way to move large numbers
of riders was in cars with multiple
levels. The gallery car style of
commuter rail coach quickly became
synonymous with Chicago. As Metra
gradually assumed ownership and
responsibility for the commuter rail
network, it inherited those railroads’
stock of gallery cars and replaced
them with newer versions of the
same design concept. These coaches
make up the totality of Metra’s
locomotive-hauled trainsets, while a
set of self-propelled electric vehicles
are found on the system’s Metra
Electric routes.
Likewise, Metra’s locomotive
stock is uniquely associated with
Chicago commuter rail. Its roster is
comprised of three main categories
of diesel engines: 180 F40PH
series locomotives built by EMD in
LaGrange, Ill., between 1977 and
1989; 30 F40PHM class engines
built in 1991-92 by EMD, with their
distinctive stub-nose cab which has
earned them the nickname “Dinky”
among Metra workers and loyal
passengers; and 28 MP36PH diesels,
delivered by Motive Power in Boise,
Idaho from 2002-2004, which
marked the first revenue use of these
locomotives in North America. Each
engine is fashioned with a nameplate
representing one of cities, towns or
villages Metra serves.
-7Graphic courtesy Metra
Building on a Successful Past
In 1848, the Galena & Chicago
Union Railroad launched the area’s
first commuter rail service between
Chicago and Oak Park. The G&CU
never made it to its namesake
Galena for the intended link to
lead mines there, but it did a brisk
business hauling freight and carrying
passengers into the city from the
emergent suburbs.
The granddaddy of commuter rail
was the Illinois Central Railroad.
It kicked-off July 21, 1856 with
four daily round trips between
Chicago and Hyde Park. A real estate
developer sold property to Illinois
Central with the stipulation it would
build a commuter line to lure buyers
to the suburbs. By the early 1900s,
a web of some 13 different railroads
stretched from the city to outlaying
communities, which in turn spawned
new businesses and housing.
Commuter rail remained stable
through the 1950s on railroads
like the Rock Island, Chicago &
Northwestern Milwaukee Road
and Burlington Northern. Many
companies modernized their fleets
adding bi-level cars and push-pull
trains, but increasing investment
in highways and auto-centered
infrastrcuture was already spelling
trouble for rail. Financially troubled
Rock Island couldn’t afford to
buy many new cars, so even into
the 1970s it pressed into rush-
hour service old 1920-era cars.
Sinking ridership into the 1970s left
railroads without funds for capital
improvements; soon, unprofitable
routes were being jetisoned.
A colossal crisis loomed and
commuters wondered if they’d wake
up one morning to find their reliable
train service gone. Scrambling to
save commuter rail, state legislators
crafted a referendum to create the
Regional Transportation Authority
(RTA). In 1974, voters in the six
counties surrounding Chicago
resoundingly approved the RTA
Act, which created a mechanism to
continue commuter rail operations
through a tax imposed on residents
of the six counties.
The original railroads continued
to operate trains under the RTA,
but struggles persisted. Bankruptcy
knocked out the Rock Island and
Milwaukee Road and the RTA
assumed operation of these services
in 1981 and 1982, prompting the
formation of an operating subsidiary,
the Northeastern Illinois Regional
Commuter Railroad Corporation.
In 1983-84 the RTA Act was
amended to separate operating
responsibilities from funding and
oversight. Three service boards
were created for transit operators,
one for Chicago Transit Authority,
the rapid transit lines, another for
Pace, the suburban buses, and then
a commuter rail board, Metra, short
for Metropolitan Rail. Metra was
introduced in 1984 with a goal to
coordinate commuter rail service in
Chicago under a single brand.
On the Metra team from the
beginning, Executive Director Philip
Pagano says after consolidation it
took nearly two decades to rebuild
the system. “When Metra inherited
the commuter lines, everything was
in a state of disrepair due to deferred
maintenance, from the deteriorating
roadbeds to the cars, where you
could literally look through the floor
and see the track bed.” Despite its
travails, Metra experienced a 15
percent ridership increase on all
routes between 1985 and 1995.
Once reliability and stability were
restored, Metra shifted from survival
and catch-up mode to maintaining
what it had and then making
improvements. Through Metra’s New
Start program, new stations were
added as population centers grew,
but most significant was the 1996
opening of the 53-mile North Central
Service Line (NCS) from Chicago’s
Union Station to Antioch. It was the
region’s first new line since 1926.
The system’s New Start program
brought further enhancements in
2006 and all were completed on time
and $50 million under budget.
Due to demand, NCS service
was increased and more stations
added along with infrastructure
improvements. The route also built
on the burgeoning suburb-to-suburb
market by partnering with business
Commuter rail operated by railroads such as the Chicago & Northwestern (l) set the stage for Metra to take the lead.
Photo courtesy John Means
18
Photo courtesy Terra Firma Co.
Metra stations at Prairie Crossing (l) and Grayslake are primed to facilitate development in their vicinities.
centers to provide connecting shuttle
services.
Residential growth along the Union
Pacific West Line (UP-W) prompted
an eight-mile extension from Geneva
to Elburn, west from Chicago’s
Ogilvie Transportation Center. The
UP-W is experiencing more suburbto-suburb traffic as employment
centers swell along the route.
The Southwest Service Line (SWS)
from Chicago’s Union Station was
extended 12 miles from Orland Park
to Manhattan. Double-tracking a
section of line allowed Metra to
increase service through this area of
significant population growth. New
stations and 4,000 more parking
spaces also were added.
Metra’s expansion follows a
nationwide trend where older
communities are reevaluating the
potential of their commuter rail
stations as town centers while newer
communities study development
scenarios near transit lines, to create
places where people will want to
invest, live and return to visit often.
Metra as Community Builder
Texas A&M University’s Texas
Transportation Institute reports
the Chicago region currently ranks
third in the nation in terms of
traffic congestion. As Chicagoans
sit stuck in traffic about 58 hours
per year and waste more than 150
million gallons of fuel annually, it
costs each traveler about $1,000
and costs the region nearly $5
billion per year in wasted fuel and
time. “It’s going to get worse,” says
George Ranney, President and CEO
of Chicago Metropolis 2020, an
organization created to promote
long-term planning and investing in
public transportation in the Chicago
region. Ranney is also Chairman and
CEO of Prairie Holding Corporation,
the company that developed Station
Square. “We’re expecting 2 million
people here in the next two decades
if existing trends continue. That’s
800,000 new jobs, a million new
cars. Statistics show that within the
next 20 years, every motorist will
be spending 160 hours in traffic.
That would have a huge adverse
impact upon the quality of life and
employee production.”
“Commuter rail in this region
is one of the economic engines
that makes this region work,” says
Pagano. “This region is no different
than other regions in the United
States where there is a tremendous
traffic problem. We need to move
people. About a year ago, the Illinois
Department of Transportation said
without Metra service, they’d have
to build about 33 additional lanes
of highway. That would be nearly
impossible to do.”
With a population boom on
the horizon Metra’s role as a cog
in the machinery that will keep
the region moving is significant.
Transit planners and transit-savvy
developers are gearing up for the
boom, too, by looking to the past
and the future for ways to tune into
the needs of commuters. Transitoriented development, like Station
Square at Prairie Crossing, is a key
component.
Transit or rail-oriented
development really isn’t new to
the Chicago area. Metra has a vast
legacy of commuter rail history to
draw on as it charts its future, a
history that demonstrates rail’s value
to community evolution.
Station Square at Prairie
Crossing: A Mini Rail Hub
Station Square at Prairie Crossing
is a textbook example of rail’s role
in a newer community. It’s unique
because Metra’s NCS and Milwaukee
District North Line (MD-N) into
Union Station stop at two stations
named Prairie Crossing within a
3-mnute walk from one another.
The NCS line station is on the
doorstep of Station Square’s 36-unit
condominium and retail complex
and about 200 single-family
homes that are part of a 359-home
subdivision.
When Prairie Holding Corporation
acquired land in 1987 in Grayslake,
about 40 miles northwest of
Chicago, Metra hadn’t committed
to building another station in the
area. “We weren’t sure we’d get
Photo courtesy City of Arlington Heights
Metra passengers scurry off their evening Union Pacifc-Northwest line train in Arlington Heights.
Graphic courtesy Sho-Deen Inc.
Development plans for downtown Aurora are heavily clustered around Metra’s depot.
20
the rail service,” says Ben Ranney,
Principal with Terra Firma, the
company handling Station Square’s
condominium sales and retail
leasing. “We knew we couldn’t count
on it at the outset. And, I don’t
think at the time we realized what a
benefit it might be.” After the station
was approved, Prairie Holding
completely revised its land plan to
take advantage of the station. In
time, Metra predicts Prairie Crossing
will become a regional transit center.
The single-family homes sold out
about two years ago and 18 of the
36 condominiums have sold. Retail
space below the living units opened
last year with about 60 percent
leased to tenants like a coffee shop
and a children’s bookstore. Land
and entitlements are in place to add
about 50,000 square feet of office
and commercial components.
“There’s no question that Metra
provided a very logical center so
that is what we used as our core as
we were planning the development,”
Ranney says. “We’ve found that the
idea that we can have people coming
from further afield and coming to
this neighborhood as a result of
the train is just a huge boon. What
we’re starting to recognize in various
places out here is that not everyone
is taking the train to downtown
Chicago. When Glenview Naval Air
Station closed, it was redeveloped as
an office, commercial and residential
center that’s within walking distance
of the MD-N Line, so people from
Prairie Crossing can go 20 minutes
on the train as opposed to an hour
and 10 minutes.”
John Watson, a graduate student
doing his thesis on community
building, recently surveyed Prairie
Crossing residents and found of
the 210 households that responded,
46 commuted on Metra daily and
another 27 rode the train at least
once per week. Additionally, 26.5
percent said that the “close proximity
to mass transit” ranked among the
top three factors that prompted them
to move to Prairie Crossing. “Clearly,
rail-oriented development is a viable
Graphic courtesy Sho-Deen Inc.
way to get people out of their cars to
use mass transit,” Ranney says.
Elburn: Poised for Growth
After almost 100 years of service
to Chicago, flagging ridership
spelled the end for Elburn’s trains
in the mid-1950s. But phenomenal
growth on the UP-W Line brought
trains back in 2006, after 10 years
of negotiation with Metra, the RTA,
Union Pacific and village leaders.
Now Elburn is gearing up to embrace
its next chapter of development.
Certain to be the centerpiece of
TOD is Geneva, Ill. based developer
Sho-Deen Construction’s plans
to build a mix of residential and
commercial properties around
Elburn station. “They’re looking to
essentially create a downtown in
that area with a lot of foot traffic,”
says Jim Stran, Elburn’s building
commissioner.
Sho-Deen owns property on
all four sides of the Metra station
and has proposed a mixed-use
development of about 2,000
residential units—single-family,
condominiums, multifamily—and
retail and commercial space. “We
want to appeal to a wide range
of markets,” says Sho-Deen’s
President, David Patzelt. “It’s not
only the younger crowds and the
younger professionals attracted to
rail-oriented design, it’s the empty
nesters, too.” Elburn is still in the
planning stages, but Sho-Deen hopes
to begin construction in about two
years so people can start walking,
biking and rollerblading to the train
station.
Another Sho-Deen project, East
Bank, on the Fox River in Aurora,
revolves around an abandoned
train station. East Bank is awaiting
city approval to build up to
2,000 housing units, a hotel and
commercial space and refurbish
the rail station for possible Metra
and Amtrak use. Patzelt believes
the return of rail will provide a
tremendous opportunity for reverse
commutes and a profit center for the
With commuter trains restored to Elburn in 2006, the city is now focusing on adding density
around its train station.
train. Metra’s Burlington Northern
Santa Fe Line (BNSF), he says, is
also a perfect launching pad to
extend rail into Montgomery and
Oswego, where residents must take
buses to Aurora to ride the train to
Chicago. A 2008 groundbreaking is
anticipated with completion in about
two years.
Restoring Downtown Around Rail
in Arlington Heights
Like many U.S. cities in the 1980s,
downtown Arlington Heights, about
25 miles northwest of Chicago, was
seeking to reinvigorate the local
economy and begin development
– and redevelopment – of its town
center. City fathers adopted a master
plan for the central business district
in 1987, making the 175-year-old
village one of the first municipalities
in the region to undertake an
extensive revitalization program
involving TOD.
“The train is the cornerstone,” says
Arlington Heights Mayor Arlene
Mulder, who also serves on Metra’s
Board of Directors. Daily, more than
3,000 passengers ride Metra’s Union
Pacific Northwest Line (UP-NW)
into the city and there’s a growing
reverse commute. “We wanted a
mixed-use development, we wanted
a 24-hour environment, which is
somewhat of an urban feel but still
in a quieter fashion.”
A once lifeless downtown now
hums with activity. Events at a new
outdoor venue attract up to 20,000
people; there’s an intimate 350-seat
performing arts center and movie
theaters. The new Arlington Heights
feels like a village from another era
with its clock tower, brick sidewalks,
shade trees, walking paths,
sculptures, art events and plenty of
walkways and benches where doting
parents and grandparents can bring
their grandkids to watch trains roll
by. A focal point is the $4.8 million
1900-style slate-roofed train station.
Partly funded by Metra, it opened in
2000.
Tax Incrementing Financing
Districts (TIF) created in the 1980s
subsidized the redevelopment. “We
probably have about 1,200 living
units now and they’re all within
two blocks of the Metra station.
Some of these condos started out at
$159,000 for a one-bedroom unit;
within a year, they were selling for
$225,000, and now you can’t get a
one-bedroom for less than $260,000,
$270,000,” Mulder says. Housing
near rail lines is in demand and
some realtors devote entire sections
of their Web sites to properties near
transit.
“Our whole concept is to return to
life much as we’ve known it in the
European countries for centuries and
here in the 1900s where the baker
actually lived above his bakery, the
pharmacist lived above his pharmacy,
and you had dwelling units,” Mulder
says. Early on, rail was important to
Arlington Heights. “The railroad was
going to go through a town directly
south of us, so one of our founders
paid them to change their route so
it would go through the property he
owned. The funny story is that when
he looked more closely at the map,
it was going through his existing
house, but he said, ‘No problem, I’ll
move it.’”
Like other communities, Arlington
Heights has a mix of young
professionals and empty nesters.
“It’s almost a Mayberry, but it’s
bigger,” Mulder says. “We have a
real pedestrian-friendly feel. It’s a
place where people can walk five
minutes to the train and go into
the city to work and bring their
money back to spend at the local
hairdresser, barber, banks, shops and
grocery store. We have some of the
very finest restaurants. People come
out on the train to go them because
you can literally get off the train and
boom, the restaurant is right across
the track. Friday and Saturday night,
you have a two-hour wait.”
Older communities are recognizing
that higher density and more vertical
mid-rise type construction is in
demand and attracts revitalization.
Rail-oriented development is
bringing population back to the
older communities and encouraging
Map courtesy Metra
Metra’s proposed lines include a rare commuter rail line serving only suburban communities – the
STAR Line.
downtown redevelopment, which
in turn brings disposable income
dollars back into their communities
in comparison to where they
used to be spent in the outskirts
or at shopping malls. For newer
communities, a rail line puts them
into a good position to manage
their growth. Such development also
benefits train operators because more
people are riding in both directions,
which result in operations that are
more efficient.
Metra’s Own New Starts Program
As the Chicago region continues
22
to mushroom, it’s obvious Metra
can’t wait another 80 years to add
new services. Through its New Start
program, four corridors have been
selected for upgrades, extensions or
new lines.
Competition is stiff for funding,
though, as transit vies with
education, health care and other
programs for limited state monies,
and state money is required to
match federal support. Plus, Illinois
governor, Rod Blagojevich, has
promised not to raise sales and
property taxes.
“Transit is becoming more and
more essential in the major cities,
Rejuvinated Rail in Joliet
Immense traffic congestion brings about innovative passenger rail
solution. Sounds like a modern rail success story — but in Joliet,
Illinois, it’s a story written more than a century ago.
In 1906 in this bustling city some 40 miles south of Chicago, Joliet
city leaders found themselves wrestling with snarled traffic due to
the city’s hosting of the Rock Island, Santa Fe and Chicago and Alton
Railroads. They passed an ordinance requiring elevated tracks and the
construction of a Union Station. By 1912, the three railroads shared
ownership of Joliet Union Station — a striking Beaux Arts facility
designed by Architect Jarvis Hunt, who would go on to design Kansas
City’s Union Station.
Photo courtesy Blackhawk Chapter of the Nat’l Railway Hist. Society
Today, the city of Joliet and Metra share ownership of the station, which
underwent restoration between 1988 and 1991 — with significant
investment from the Federal Transit Administration. Currently, five
Amtrak lines serve Joliet Union Station, with ridership exceeding
25,000 annually. As well, the station serves two Metra lines — the
Rock Island and the Heritage.
Postcard courtesy Legends of America
especially from an environmental
aspect,” Mulder says. “It has to be
subsidized by the general public and
everybody that has to drive a car
should feel that every time they help
subsidize transit, other people will
get on it and leave the roads to him.”
“We are blessed to have 11 rail lines
and what we need to do in the future
is to expand those 11 rail lines to
give them the capability of having
more express trains both in and out
of the city of Chicago so we can get
into the reverse commute mode,”
Metra’s Pagano says. “The second
item of that is adding to our rail
system and the two projects that we
have resurrected, at least for this
go-around for the next 10 years, is
the SouthEast Service and the STAR
Line.”
SouthEast Service (SES) would
link about 20 communities in
Chicago’s southern suburbs. The
33-mile route is expected to attract
new development, hundreds of jobs
and provide better service into the
city from an underserved area. The
expectation of commuter rail is
already generating development with
construction of Nugent Square, a
mixed-use project next to a proposed
SES station. Depending on funding,
the new line could be operational
by 2015. SES’ $524.3 million price
tag is based on 2000 dollars, as
are estimates for Metra’s other
expansion plans. The projects are
still undergoing alternatives analysis
and revised cost estimates will be
developed as part of these studies.
If implemented, the $1.1 billion
Suburban Transit Access Route, or
STAR Line, would be the first-ever
suburb-to-suburb commuter rail line
in the nation. Studies found a need
not being met: reverse commutes
and suburb-to-suburb commutes.
One out of every eight people in
the region live within five miles of
the proposed line and one-fifth of
the region’s jobs are in the area; the
STAR line would give nearly 1.2
million employees an alternative to
driving.
Operating Diesel Multiple Units
Map courtesy Metra
instead of conventional commuter
equipment, the 55-mile STAR
Line would connect almost 100
communities between O’Hare
airport and Joliet along existing
right-of-way on part of the route
with another segment built on the
median of the Northwest Tollway.
This corridor is among the most
populous in the region with
numerous employment centers. Four
existing Metra lines, the NCS, UP-W,
MD-W and BNSF, would cross the
STAR Line. Construction could begin
around 2015-16.
Due to significant growth and the
need for reverse commutes, increased
service and infrastructure upgrades
are planned for UP-W and the Union
Pacific Northwest Line (UP-NW).
The UP-NW would also extend to
Johnsburg on the McHenry branch.
The budget for both lines is $528
million with completion targeted for
2013.
The new projects would add 30
new stations, some in areas never
served by commuter rail before. And
the STAR Line could potentially
expand east from Joliet, north from
Prairie Stone, north and south along
Illinois Route 53 and I-290, and link
O’Hare and Midway airports.
Along with state and local
backing, Metra is seeking federal
Map courtesy Metra
funding through the Safe,
Accountable, Flexible, Efficient
Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy
for Users (SAFETEA-LU).
Will the key state funding come
through so Metra can start work
on its comprehensive plans to meet
future growth?
“We really don’t know,” Pagano
says. “I think we are on the radar
screen. I think the leadership
and the governor recognizes
that transportation and transit is
important to this region and now it’s
their call as to where it fits into the
whole scheme of things.”
Without financing, says Pagano,
the system will return to what
Metra inherited in the early 1980s,
with deteriorating roadbeds and
equipment, bad on-time performance
and loss of ridership.
Today, transit amd rail as a whole
generate an estimated $12 billion
in annual economic benefits and
120,000 jobs to the region, reports
44
Moving Beyond Congestion, the
strategic plan of the Regional
Transportation Authority. If Metra’s
new services get the green light,
those numbers are certain to rise.
“Clearly, we’re one of the factors
that makes the Northeast Illinois
region a very livable community,”
Pagano says. “That doesn’t mean
that we don’t need to do more to
make it more and more livable.
And that’s what we’re intending
to do with some of our New Start
projects.”
If everything goes according
to plan, Metra will build on its
legacy and grow to meet the needs
of its communities. And it will
continue to connect people to
jobs, homes, services and cultural
and entertainment venues, just as
commuter trains did so many years
ago.
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