Things That Test Your Patience: Edgebrook Metra Station
Don’t get me wrong: I love that we have a Metra train station in Edgebrook. But every time the northbound train pulls into the station, it’s easily a 3-minute wait for Devon Ave. car traffic (from train approaching to train leaving the station). A 60646 Blog reader had privately suggested to me a couple of weeks ago that – in the name of efficiency – we ought to discuss moving the station back to where it was before: across from Old Edgebrook, east of Central Ave., on Cook County forest preserve grounds. Sounds good to me. What do you think?
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Tags: Neighborhood, Old Edgebrook, Video
great article you live in a beautiful area 
Fair enough. Thanks for all your work on these quarterly reports and for sharing them. 
Great questions, JB. In my view, there hasn't been any significant correlation between the conclusion of the tax credit and ...
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Your 60646blog is a great Edgebrook blog. I’m surprised I haven’t run across it sooner.
Here is an idea I presented to Governor Quinn under the Recovery Act but never got a reply. Maybe you can research it up and present it on your blog.
Once upon a time the train station was located east of Central on the south side of the tracks (across from Old Edgebrook, there is still an old sidewalk there if you look close) where a pic-nic grove is now. I doubt any one alive today knows why it was moved to its present location north of Devon where every time a train stops it completely snarls traffic in downtown Edgebrook. My idea is to move the train station back to its original location so when trains stop the train would be completely on the tracks east of Central and as such the gates would not have to be down while loading and unloading.
The tricky part to this is that land would have to confiscated from the FPDCC. I’m talking about the land at the southeast corner of Central and Caldwell, the entire parcel east of Central, south of Caldwell, west of the golf course, north of the tracks. A new train station would be built with sorely needed parking. It would also create a safer pedestrian environment for train passengers to exit and enter the train interface. Considering what a daily nightmare traffic congestion is in downtown Edgebrook because of the train stopping the argument would be that this is using public land for the public good and the FPDCC is never going to use this obscure parcel for anything any way because of its location.
I know, lots of politics involved, where would the funding be found during a failing economy with governments going broke would mean a very, very, very long row to hoe, but like the saying goes: “Make no small plans”. Worth a shot on your blog to get some attention. What I would like out of this project is a Veteran’s memorial incorporated into the mix
Dennis Paterka
Thanks for chiming in Dennis. I appreciate your outlining the details of your proposal, here on 60646 Blog. Certainly, plenty of food for thought. Not very easy to be executed though, as you’ve already alluded to some of the possible financial roadblocks of this plan. But hopefully we can get a few more opinions on this subject from other sources, I’m thinking in particular from the Edgebrook Community Association. Incidentally, they have a great write-up on the history of the Edgebrook Metra Train Station on their website.
On another, somewhat unrelated, note: Please folks, do not try to outrun a Metra train. The Chicago Tribune has posted a video on their website of the women and baby that were struck and killed by a train last weekend, as they tried to rush across the tracks, so as not to miss the train. This is heart-breaking. Go ahead and miss the train, if you have to. Your life is way more important than a missed train.
The best, but even more financially improbable, solution is an overpass or underpass that separates the railroad tracks from Devon, Caldwell and Central. Moreover, it would allow pedestrians to make safe passage — it was just a year or two ago that we had 2 or 3 horrific fatalities in downtown Edgebrook — likely people who were trying to get to the load-in side of the approaching train, only to find it was not a “local” train that they were trying to beat. I believe this was exactly the scenario of the recent accident on the Union Pacific North Line.
In the short term, there would be some traffic headaches created by a new overpass (perhaps a temporary track on what’s now Lehigh while the main tracks are elevated over the intersection). But in the long term it would create a safer and more pleasant downtown Edgebrook.
An overpass is probably a very safe solution for Metra riders (and perhaps less costly than an underpass). But I think the whole point of Dennis’ suggestion is that by moving the Metra station from its current location to its former location, this would tremendously improve the traffic situation on the six corners of Caldwell, Lehigh, and Devon. Therefore, I’d vote for both Dennis’ and for your sugeestion, JB. Now, all we need to do is to find the money for all this.
Roman Pucinski raised the idea of an overpass/underpass way back when he was alderman and had a lot of clout and the idea went nowhere.
Dennis
Yesterday, I waited a good 15 minutes on Devon trying to travel west over the tracks. Northbound and southbound express Metras, plus an Amtrak all within the space of 15 minutes at 5 pm.
Railroad crossings plague many areas (like Harlem Ave. in Berwyn-Riverside). The problem in Edgebrook is that several major streets are tied up at this crossing.
I’d be in favor of ideas that were presented here – moving the station a little bit north or south, or building an overpass for the RR.
JJ, you were lucky that that train traffic yesterday wasn’t joined by a 3-mile freight train. Seriously speaking though, yes, something needs to be done to alleviate this situation at Edgebrook’s six corners.
Mr. Paterka’s suggestion for relocation of the Metra station makes sense but the costs involved mean it probably won’t happen in my lifetime. Here’s a cheaper idea. The control gates for all three affected streets go down about 90 seconds before the train stops. Express and Amtrak intervals are shorter. The stop is about 30-45 seconds with another 15 to 30 to clear the area, say one minute total average. For outbound trains, if the rear of the last car gets about 15 feet or so north of Devon, the gates go up as soon as the train stops. But that probably only works for 5 car trains, used during off hours. For rush hours and for some reason on weekends, Metra uses 7 car trains. For 7 car trains the outbound passenger platform evidently isn’t long enough, so the end of the last car blocks Devon and the gates stay down. Solution- extend the outbound platform one and a half car lengths northward (the exit/entry doors are in the middle of the car). All outbound trains could then stop fully north of Devon. One minute per train times 23 trains per weekday means less auto exhaust pollution and driver frustration. I figure the materials cost to be that of 100 square yards of ballast and blacktop.
Lehigh Lawyer, you’ve meticulously observed the mechanisms that control the gates at that intersection. And your suggestion to extend the outbound passenger platform would certainly be more attractive than relocating the whole train stop, financially speaking.
My observation has been that outbound Metra trains that stop at Edgebrook without actually physically blocking Devon Ave. still cause all gates to be down until the train proceeds to leave the station, regardless of day of the week. I am all for safety, but there is really no good reason (that I can think of) to have the gates at Devon, Caldwell, and especially Central Ave down once the outbound train has stopped at the station.
Ditto that. “Lehigh Lawyer” has a great idea at minimal cost, and one where the existing railroad right-of-way could be used. I have also never quite understood the logic of gates at the Central and Caldwell crossings remaining down after an outbound train has cleared those crossings, (even when Devon is partially blocked by a stopped train). For some reason, all gates at the three crossings in downtown Edgebrook operate in unison. One vision for the business district could be a new, attractive station built a bit further north along with revised platforms and an extension to the added lane on Lehigh for traffic to flow better (Lehigh’s lights are rather short). For history buffs: A 1940′s proposal once had the Edgebrook station located up closer to Touhy Avenue, and the original 1890′s train station in Edgebrook was burned down in 1930 by residents who were battling with the railroad to move it up to its current location. the railroad responded by putting up a rather temporary wooden shack, and later, littering its rights-of-way with large billboards. Maybe it’s time for something better.