Railroad Overpasses

[Luv2play]

I just saw a National Public Television piece about a controversy in the Chicago area caused by railway operators, in this case the Canadian National. It seems Chicago has hundreds of level crossings and rail traffic has caused tie ups for motorists for years. Now CN has bought the Joliet and Illinois RR and is going to re-route many of its trains around Chicago, thus alleviating the delays in the city. The downside is that new delays will occur in some suburban areas around Chigago, such as the town of Barrington. Of course the folks there are upset.

 

My question is why are there so many level crossings in the first place? The train after all has been around for more than 150 years and the motor car 100 and there has been time to deal with keeping the two apart, especially in urban areas. In Montreal where I live, I can't think of one level crossing and we have as many train tracks as Chicago. Montreal is a huge port and a lot of sea going cargo is transferred to rails. We had level crossings years ago but they have largely disappeared as overpasses and underpasses were built to accomodate and separate rail and motor traffic.

 

I can't understand why this has not been done in Chigago and its suburbs. The US has a wonderful highway system, quite superior to Canada's in my opinion. But it would appear its rail infrastructure is deficient. This by the way is not limited to Chicago in my experience as I recall the constant delays caused by trains going through Fort Lauderdale and Miami where I lived for awhile.

 

I believe the future is going to favor trains, not trucks. Is it not time to come to terms with this?

[+ azdr0710]

I think the railroad is responsible for paying for the grade separated crossing, typically, unless an arrangement is made with the neighboring municipality....

 

therefore, they aren't in a hurry to do this expensive work since any accident is the car driver's fault and not the railroad's.....

 

some of the above may not be correct, but I think it's right

 

EDIT: I may have this all wrong, but I'm curious about this, too!

[raulgmanzo]

My question is why are there so many level crossings in the first place? ... In Montreal where I live, I can't think of one level crossing

 

Of the THOUSANDS of railroad crossings within the city of Chicago very few are grade level as the railroads were required to eliminate them by a law passed in 1893. Unless you count rail sidings into factories it is very hard to find grade level crossings in Chicago. In the suburbs however there are many grade crossings.

 

The current delays in the city of Chicago are delays to the trains because of bottlenecks and congestion on the railroads. Chicago is a huge rail hub, with more miles of track than Montreal or any other city in North America. It is said that 1/3 of all US rail freight passes through Chicago. I think Chicago is still the largest intermodal port in North America with something like the equivalent of 60,000 truckloads of freight EACH DAY. Much of that being transfered to or from rail.

 

So CN wants to have the trains that are merely passing through (not starting or terminating) Chicago rerouted on a belt railway around the city and through various suburbs. That railway has oodles of grade crossings in the suburbs.

[Luv2play]

Well, all I can say is that National Public Television was able to find some level crossings and they tended to be in minority populated sectors of the city. They had an interview with a black lady who drove the camera team around, showing them the traffic delays she encountered daily in Chicago. When she was told that there would be fewer trains coming through and these would be shifted to the burbs, she said maybe it was time that the burbs be asked to share the burden.

 

Maybe the difference is what is considered Chicago and what is a suburb. From what I could see, the level crossings were not downtown where all the highrises are located. The areas appeared to be more like older suburbs but I suppose those are now part of Chicago. Places like Barrington were much further out and might almost qualify as exurbs.

 

It was interesting that Barrington appeared to be a very affluent town;the cars lined up at the level crossings were Jaguars and BMWs. In the inner suburbs, the vehicles appeared to be more modest. Obviously the folks in Barrington didn't bargain on being on the wrong side of the tracks when they moved there!

[raulgmanzo]

Yes many of the close in suburbs and neighborhoods that will see relief are industrial, poorer, older, and minority populated. In some of them one can get stuck waiting for 15 minutes waiting for long trains coming from both directions to pass. There are also a few crossings in the city proper, mostly on the far south side and even a couple near downtown.

But really in the city proper there are literally thousands of separated crossings and only a handful of ones at grade. The reason that CN wants to reroute the trains to the outer suburbs is for efficiency of the trains. Reducing noise and some of the grade level crossings in the city and close in suburbs is just a happy side effect. Although it will likely make little or no difference with the couple grade crossings in the center of the city which are primarily passenger.

Yes Barrington while not the most distant suburbs is maybe 40 miles from downtown and well off with homes on 5 acre lots and fancy cars and horses.

[Guest manrent1]

what in god's name does this have to do with males escorts in any way shape or form. Strange, strange, strange subject for a posting on this board.

[Luv2play]

Rentingdad, The Lounge is a place for general topics, which could be related to escorts or not, as the case may be. There are many other forums such as Deli, Ask an Escort, Escort Travels etc which discuss escort issues exclusively. The only taboo subjects for the Lounge are politics, religion and war. Topical issues of the day have always been welcomed in the Lounge. Maybe you just haven't noticed.

[Lookin]

what in god's name does this have to do with males escorts in any way shape or form. Strange, strange, strange subject for a posting on this board.

Well, I'm no Freud, but the good doctor did say that the train is usually a phallic symbol, and that a train going through a tunnel represents intercourse.

 

http://blogs.suntimes.com/scanners/nnw11.jpg

 

Though you couldn't prove it by me, as I have just been sitting here at grade watching the old iron horses whiz by. I do look forward, however, to getting my ticket punched in the very near future.

[raulgmanzo]

what in god's name does this have to do with males escorts in any way shape or form. Strange, strange, strange subject for a posting on this board.

And what does most television have to do with male escorts? And yet TV (along with all kinds of current events) seems to be the topic of many threads in the lounge. How anybody even finds time for television is beyond me. Of course if I didn't spend so much time reading these forums (or stroking my cock) I might have more time.

[Guest ryan2552]

interesting topic luv2play.

 

I do agree that the rail system in the US is a mini nightmare especially compared to the systems in many European countries. We obviously put more emphasis on motor ways than rail ways and now it really shows as you pointed out.

[+ azdr0710]

I certainly wish the RR system in the US was like Europe's incredibly efficient operation, passenger-wise, at least....

 

but it's just not going to be possible with the great distances we have here...the much higher population density over in Europe makes train travel the way to go there....