|
|
| Re: Amtrak proposing colossal $7 billion for overhaul of Chicago Union Station (1168758) | |||
 |
|||
| Home > SubChat | |||
|
[ Read Responses | Post a New Response | Return to the Index ] |
|
||
|
Re: Amtrak proposing colossal $7 billion for overhaul of Chicago Union Station |
|
|
Posted by Alan Follett on Thu Jul 26 22:39:29 2012, in response to Re: Amtrak proposing colossal $7 billion for overhaul of Chicago Union Station, posted by Jackson Park B Train on Thu Jul 26 11:34:55 2012. There were a number of proposals, as late as a mid-Fifties scheme to combine Grand Central, LaSalle, and Dearborn into a single facility just west of the existing LaSalle...which would have left Chicago with four main-line stations, still an improvement over six. And then there was the 1920's proposal, for which I've seen very detailed drawings from IC files, for a truly monumental station on approximately the Central Station site, supposedly just for the IC and its Michigan Central and Big Four tenants, but surely big enough and appropriately sited to have accommodated everything except perhaps C&NW and Milwaukee. And before those there was the Burnham Plan's suggestion for a single grand station west of the river, between Clinton and Canal Streets. (Though even this, I think, would have worked better for commuters if supplemented by two or three suburban stations on the IC east of Michigan Avenue, perpaps with a tunnel under the Chicago River to permit through operation with electrified C&NW and CM&StP suburban services.)Amtrak did a Good Thing in 1971-72 when it consolidated all remaining intercity service into Union Station, though that facility as it now exists has been outgrown for both intercity and commuter traffic. Alan Follett |
|
|
|