Train Delays on the South Shore.

[Jochs]

As I type this, all trains on the South Shore have been halted due to a suspicious package being found.
South Shore will be skipping stops at and near the McCormick Place in Chicago due to the NATO summit, and there is heightened security on all trains.
WSBT had a news story about South Shore trains, but I can't find it on their website. They do have a little about Metra security this weekend, such as backpacks, liquids, and large carry-ons won't be allowed.
http://www.wsbt.com/news/ct-met-nato-ch ... 7518.story
I imagine similar restrictions will be imposed on South Shore trains, as they do share the Electric Metra Line into Chicago.

[railroadchoad]

I am not trying to start any sort of political discussion here but American Presidents-Republican AND Democratic should not have big meetings like this NATO summit in large cities. It simply is not fair to the people who are trying to to about their day and suddenly have to deal with all of the security issues that are needed to keep so many heads of state safe. The fact that it is being held at McCormick place that the IC Electric tracks running beneath it even worse. I-55 also runs right next to the south side of the building and it, no doubt, is likely closed. It should have been held at Camp David of some military installation.

[justalurker66]

The empty suitcase was found on a Metra train. It made a morning eastbound NICTD train two hours late to South Bend and a westbound NICTD about an hour late to Millennium. The rest of the weekend went well.

Monday there are several South Shore trains cancelled (afternoon westbounds and a few Chicago to Gary trains). As noted on the NICTD website, food and liquid are banned from the trains, packages over 4x15x15 are banned, alcohol was banned since Friday. Everyone is screened on boarding and everyone changes trains at Hegewisch to a train that has been swept by bomb dogs. he biggest threat to passengers is that any serious disruption on the train will lead to the train coming back to Indiana instead of passing through McCormick place to Chicago.

And yes, I-55 is closed east of I-94 and Lakeshore Drive is closed from the park south along the lakefront. West of Michigan Ave life is fairly normal (other than the restrictions on Metra trains and protesters snarling traffic).

A few dozen people have been arrested ... 5 for conspiracy (they were allegedly planning on making Molatov Cocktails and attacking targets) ... 19 in Saturday's marches and 45 in Sunday's marches. There are a lot of people from out of town that have come in for the show.

[Standard Railfan]

A few dozen people have been arrested ... 5 for conspiracy (they were allegedly planning on making Molatov Cocktails and attacking targets) ... 19 in Saturday's marches and 45 in Sunday's marches. There are a lot of people from out of town that have come in for the show.

And people call us railroad fans crazy. "What did you do on vacation?" "I went to Chicago for the riot"

[tadman]

I specifically left town to avoid the show, despite the fact I live a bit north of downtown and probably would've been fine had I stayed in my neighborhood.

I also had second thoughts that it would've been interesting not only to stay in town, but ride/walk downtown and watch (from a distance) the shenanigans. I didn't, though.

[rob46580]

Heres an interesting article now that summit is over, also they state that the new route thru Michigan City is down to 2 possibilities, they dropped the one that made no sense to me (along current 11th street route)as it would have been a ton of grade crossings remaining and homes lost. as for the other 2 choices I would have to say "north route" makes most sense as far as conecting to current line on both ends.
http://m.nwitimes.com/business/transpor ... 68f39.html

[justalurker66]

Heres an interesting article now that summit is over, also they state that the new route thru Michigan City is down to 2 possibilities, they dropped the one that made no sense to me (along current 11th street route)as it would have been a ton of grade crossings remaining and homes lost. as for the other 2 choices I would have to say "north route" makes most sense as far as conecting to current line on both ends.
http://m.nwitimes.com/business/transpor ... 68f39.html

A note for this thread from that article ... NATO cost NICTD $100k.

As for the reroute I preferred the 11th St route ... the one where most of the houses on the south side of the street were taken and the ROW shifted. Somehow in February that route changed to fit within the current ROW (the street and sidewalks) which would have left the homes but put a fenced ROW in people's yards. It is one thing to take someone's home for a project ... and not a bad thing as many residents were wanting to sell ... but to leave the home and take it's value would have been bad.

The north routes are plentiful ... one will probably be chosen. Urban renewal will come to the north side of Michigan City and it won't be pretty. The south route is probably better for getting through town (with 11th St off the table). The biggest problem is the car yard relocation. The yard relocation is the reason why I believe one of the north options will be chosen ... but the south option has its benefits.