A number of rail improvement and expansion projects have been included in the region's long range transportation plan. Being included in the long range transportation plan is an important step on the path towards implementation, but much additional work is required before a project can actually be built. CMAP is committed to providing the technical assistance needed to help bring the projects to fruition. For many rail projects, this means providing assistance with the alternatives analyses undertaken to identify the best alternative to submit in an application for Federal Transit Administration "New Starts" Funding.
New Starts is a Federal Transit Administration effort that emphasizes regional planning by allocating money for locally planned and operated transit capital improvements. Federal money is awarded to noteworthy and efficient projects after a rigorous application process. For a number of years, CMAP and its predecessors have helped northeastern Illinois transit implementers to secure five full funding grant agreements under the New Starts program. To read more on the funding program, visit the Federal Transit Administration's New Starts Project Planning and Development website.
As part of its technical assistance function, CMAP helps with transportation modeling required for proposals to receive New Starts funding in northeastern Illinois. Eligibility can involve any mass transit or fixed guideway system, including rapid rail, light rail, commuter rail, automated guideway transit, people movers, and exclusive facilities for buses (such as bus rapid transit) and other high occupancy vehicles.
Metropolitan Chicago's successful projects funded under the FTA New Starts Grant program include:
- Metra
- North Central Service Line: new service running from Chicago-Union Station to Antioch
- Union Pacific West Line: running from Chicago-Ogilvie to Geneva, now extended to Elburn.
- Southwest Service Line: running from Chicago-Union Station to Orland Park, now extended to Manhattan
- CTA
- Brown Line extended platforms to run longer trains
- Blue Line rehabilitation of Douglas Branch
Metra and CTA currently have additional corridors under study. CMAP is providing technical assistance, generating data which must be provided in any New Start Application.
- Metra
- UP West Extension: The Union Pacific West line currently serves 62 communities along 44 miles of track. This line was extended under a previous New Start grant. Additional improvements are now under study because population growth along the line -- a projected 650 percent by 2030 -- may leave this line with a shortage of capacity. Metra hopes to avoid a “bottleneck” by expanding service from 59 to 80 trains per day.
- UPNW Upgrade: The Union Pacific Northwest line is Metra’s longest line and carries the second highest number of riders of all 11 Metra lines. With huge population increases expected, it’s only going to get busier. This issue will be addressed by not only increasing the number of trains that run per day, but also by constructing an additional station and two new rail yards.
- STAR Line: New service running from Joliet to O’Hare, the Star Line would be the first suburb-to-suburb commuter line to “connect the spokes” of Chicago’s hub-and-spoke rail system.
- Southeast Service: The proposed new service will run along a 33-mile stretch of track, from Chicago-Union Station to Balmoral Park, to provide much-needed public transportation in a rapidly-growing area.
- CTA