Metra service changes planned at Millennium Station

Let's talk about Metro Electric Trains. They will not reach the Millennium Station this weekend or next. Buses will cover the gap and two stations will close. So let's get all the details right now for Metro spokeswoman Meg Thomas-Riley. She has the plan. Hi, Meg. Good morning or afternoon. Yeah, time moves so fast, right? So tell me, what are we expecting to happen this weekend? Okay, this is about, since this project began, it's about the sixth time we've had to do this. We are, so for our passengers, what they expect is that trains will stop at 18th Street and leave from 18th Street. We will be busing passengers between, and that's both our passengers and South Shore passengers, between 18th Street and Millennium. We will not be stopping at 11th Street or Van Buren Street with the buses. It's going to be a straight shot up to Millennium and back. we can also, we'll bring you back from Millennium down to 18th Street. The reason for all this, and it's going to happen, I'm sorry, it's going to happen this weekend and the following weekend. But the reason behind all this is a fourth track project for the NICTD South Shore line. Since they have expanded service and created new lines, they need extra trackage to get into the station to be able, for capacity reasons. So there are portions of this project where it's just more efficient for us to shut down the line so that they can work on, because when you're working in electrical service, you're working not just on creating new tracks, new signaling infrastructure, the overhead wires, and also at Van Buren, part of that is going to create a new tunnel so that it's more, so that new platforms are accessible. So while that work is going on, you really can't run trains through the area. So we have tried to time these for the least impactful weekends. So we had some in spring and early summer, and then we went on and did other work that was less impactful because we knew that the number of people who come downtown for summer events on the weekends, it would be a bit much. Another thing I want to point out is that if you are a passenger and you need to use our service who has a disability or other mobility issues we're asking you to get off at McCormick Place where we will also have buses in place just for those people because getting through 11th street i mean excuse me 18th street where we'll be stopping the trains there's some there are significant number of stairs and such and people with mobility issues it'll be harder for them. So we'd like you to go to McCormick Place and we'll provide shuttles for you. Everyone else, get off at 18th Street. And there will be individuals there at all these locations that will help people through all of this, right? Yes, we will have plenty of staff on hand. Well, although the weather forecast right now is for a great weekend, if we're in inclement, we would have shelter areas set up for people and things just to make it and easier, it's an inconvenience, no matter how minor we try to make it, we're going to try to mitigate that, so. Like you said, you avoided doing it in the summer because of all the events that happened during that season, but the fall is turning out to be just as busy with the many Minneapolis festivals we have, and in fact, the Arts in the Dark parade is downtown, so this will impact the crowds for that. What's the alternative for them? Well, I mean, we'll be able to get you up to Millennium so that you can get to, I mean, you can get there. It's just going to be a slightly different route, okay? Where, you know, normally you just take the train straight to Millennium. You're just going to get off at 18th Street, get on a bus, and go straight to Millennium and back and forth. We're going to provide service, and that's why we put buses in. We did not want to drop passengers at 18th Street, where in addition to climbing the stairs, you've also got to walk about five blocks to michigan to get cta service so we're trying to make it as convenient as possible but to be honest there's no good weekend to do this and we also during the christmas season as the holiday season that's why we're doing it now because we also see a big uptick in in weekend travel for the holidays but you notice we put it after the marathon and before the holiday increase we can't we we can't miss you know we can't accommodate every event because literally they're i mean chicago is a very busy and wonderful place in the weekend there are all kinds of things to do but we have to get this project done and it does necessitate closing down a segment of the line just so we can get in there do the work and get out of there so we can accommodate the monday morning rush a little nuisance and pain for uh effortless and and gain what what is the gain where we're getting here for this little bit of pain well the gain is going to be especially for south shore riders um additional capacity at the at the at the end station at Millennium and getting through the 11th place which trust me is it's kind of where our traffic and South Shore split off again to go to different parts of Millennium stations so there are a number of tracks and switches there but it's going to improve capacity for South Shore riders and allow the South Shore to increase in the future right now i mean they've already done significant work to expand South Shore services but to increase their ability to get in and out of our station and add to the number of trains so it'll make it more accessible uh for Chicago downtown Chicago and using transit a better option for residents of Northwest Indiana and it will help us because it will separate that traffic a little bit yeah um and help us keep get because 11th place where they're doing most of the work is a very congested part of the railroad and it's constrained by the fact that we're you know between the Lake Shore and buildings on the east side and buildings on the west side, including the Art Institute. So we're down in that trench. So it's a very congested and limited area, and this will improve that. All right, so improvements, glad you talked about the accessibility concerns as well. So I guess last thing here, we always like to leave people with a resource. What should people check before they even leave the house this weekend? dot com just to make sure you have the instructions um but also any service alerts that are out there or in case another wrinkle enters the you know equation and we might you know we have delays for some reason that's not associated with this so it's always great to check metro.com before you leave the house and if you need a full trip plan um there's a trip planner you can access a trip planner through our website, Metro.com, but you could also call 836-7000, which is the NEDA Travel Information Center, and they can help people navigate a trip, especially for people who don't use our services all the time. Yeah, absolutely. All right, Meg. Thanks so much. Appreciate your time. No problem. All right. Take care.