OSWEGO, Ill. — Two communities hoping to bring Metra service to Kendall County, Ill., will retain the service of a Chicago lobbying firm to continue the effort to extend the BNSF Line service, as well as seek funding for a regional water project.
The Aurora Beacon-News reports that Oswego and Yorkville will retain the services of Kasper & Nottag. They first hired the firm a year ago to seek state funding for the extension, and Oswego Village Administrator Dan Di Santo said the company “met the highest possible expectations” when $100 million for the project was included in the budget passed by the state earlier this year, and the community thinks it is “a good insurance policy” to have the lobbyists continue to work on the project. The two communities have also invited the village of Montgomery, also seeking Metra service, to join in the agreement.
Oswego and Plano, Ill., hosted open houses on the proposal last week [see “Open houses bring proposed Metra extension to the public,” Trains News Wire, Dec.3, 2019]. Those open houses included discussion of four possible station sites in Yorkville; the Beacon-News reports that the community’s aldermen will discuss those possible sites at its Tuesday night meeting.
This proposal is a waste of money given other transit and mobility needs in the region. The density in Kendall County just cannot support the effort and dollars to go into such a project. The region needs much more north south transportation in the suburbs surrounding Chicago. It would be less expensive just to operate a morning state supported train that could make the necessary station stops without all of the consulting expenses and construction required for an extension of the current Metra/BNSF route west of Aurora.
How refreshing to hear of communities that WANT new rail service, instead of the all-too-common complaints by NIMBY types that trains are ‘too noisy, unsafe, will lower property values, etc.’ Whether it will actually come to fruition is of course another matter!
@Robert Ash:
“This proposal is a waste of money given other transit and mobility needs in the region”
The North-South Metra study did complete for using the former EJ&E as a conduit between Joliet and Waukegan. The study showed inadequate employers along the route and ambivalence from the online communities with regards to stations. The plan was shelved.
The Southside route study also finished and showed that the current density in parts of Will County didn’t support a service extension except with a route to Kankakee. Since Peotone would be a last stop in Will County (in the RTA tax district), it was shelved until the new SSA is built. This also covered the UP (C&EI) to Beecher. It is expected that when the SSA is built, a service extension will be built as well.
The other study showed that NW Indiana was severely under served and the NICTD recently announced that they are going to create a new service from Hammond to Dyer. (West Lake Corridor).
Money was recently allocated to extend service to Rockford using the MILW-West line that ends in Elgin-Big Timber. Talks are in progress with regards to operations between Amtrak and Metra.
CTA is spending $1.3 billion in new cars and CRRC has a new plant down on Torrance to build them in 2020. This will make the CTA have the youngest cars of any transit agency.
So I guess I gotta ask, what other needs haven’t been at least looked at, let alone addressed?
As it stands now the BNSF Aurora line and the Metra SWS to Joliet are almost the least reaching routes in the system. Oswego and Yorkville populations are growing at a high clip. The fact they are willing to spend their own money to even see if it has value sets up a great baseline. In the event the research shows its not ready yet, they will have something to compare any future requests to.
Kendall County is most definitely putting their money where their mouth is when it comes to managing the political process. As everyone knows, in Illinois, everyone has their hand out.