Car Free Keith

You know Galesburg well! Yup

That’s a great point. People will never just swear off of flying but will gladly write off trains

I’ve definitely had that happen too. This was more of a real time tracking glitch on their part. The train was never running an hour late, but the tracking system thought it was

Just frustrating that this is the kind of thing that makes people swear off of trains for good and it’s such a preventable problem

The false delay notification was frustrating enough, but I’m baffled that the station agent couldn’t have communicated with the train crew “hey, half the people waiting for this train think it’s running an hour late and went home to wait, can you guys hold for a few minutes?”

High-tailed it back to the station and sure enough the train was there. Sprinted to the platform and it started pulling away right as I got there

Soooo was on Amtrak 380 from Galesburg to Chicago scheduled to leave at 7:40a. Got a text from Amtrak on the way over that it’s running an hour late. Amtraker didn’t show a real time location. Verified it with the station agent. Left for breakfast, and turns out the train showed up perfectly on time

beverly branch rock island train running through a winter wonderland

Just saw a mother with several small children and a stroller struggling to get through the snow.

If we were to #PlowTheSidewalks it would benefit everyone, no matter how they get around.

The California Zephyr departing Galesburg this morning with a little over half a foot of snow on the ground already

I don’t think I’d ever live in a city that wasn’t in the top 20 largest in the US in 1940 or 1950

Where are you getting that? In the market for a new coat and I like

I completed my final count. Out of 10,511 bus stops, I found that 4,360 (41%) of them could be removed to align with national best practices of 1/4 mile spacing. Long-form explainer article and an interactive map are forthcoming. Green dots are removed stops, black are kept stops.

I long for beautiful train sheds like this one in the US. Instead I’ll be boarding a train tonight in a cramped diesel fume infested cavern. But at least I’m able to take the train!

Thanks!

Yep, as far I saw when visiting that’s the only double tracked part I found. I agree that it was a wild choice lol

Agreed, that’s one concern I have here. It seems like it’ll require a rebuild of a lot of this if they ever wanted to double track the whole thing

Thanks Aaron!

@stevevance.net your video is ready my friend

YouTube video by Car Free Keith The Chicago Area’s Biggest Rail Expansion in 30 Years is Coming to Indiana #infrastructure #chicago

Wondering what the South Shore Line’s new stations look like but feeling frustrated with the delayed opening? I got you

youtube.com/shorts/m6gKO...

Commentary: Make 2026 the year to achieve real progress on reforming housing affordability Growth in and around Chicago depends on lawmakers getting it done, write leaders of Abundant Housing Illinois.

Of all the major cities in the United States, Chicago provides the greatest value, with robust amenities and culture without correlated housing costs. But if Chicago wants to retain that status, some things need to change.

op-ed by me, Stef, and Jasmine (co-leads for @abundanthousingil.bsky.social)

That is so bad, wow 😳

Just gave them a call, talked to someone immediately and it took just 2 minutes

(312) 814-2121

Breathless coverage of one person injured, not killed, on a CTA train, vs. a brief on Page 9 when two people are killed on the road. That’s because road death happens ALL THE TIME - 3 1/2 road fatalities per day in Illinois.
It looks like the number of transit riders killed this year is one …

I just noticed that the Monon rush hour through trains skip Hammond Gateway, which is really really weird. Especially because the Monon and mainline trains have their own separate platforms (that are decently well connected)

It is now my goal to work this quote into the video somehow

But it’s probably better when they’re doing less track work. Would have to dig into the past data

Their on time performance is not great either, so some of those waits will probably be longer

mysouthshoreline.com/wp-content/u...

Maybe I’ll do a short now that they released the schedule!

An entrance sign for the South Shore Line Monon Corridor South Hammond Station

Went to see some of the completed (but not open) Monon Corridor stations. Big video coming right after these finally open sometime in Q1 of 2026!