TTC
TTC on March 6 officially began expanding the Hillcrest Complex at 1138 Bathurst Street, Toronto. The two-phase project will allow the agency to store and maintain approximately 25 new Flexity™ light rail vehicles (LRV) from Alstom and will include maintenance work and landscaping improvements (download Fact Sheet above). Funded by contributions from the Canadian government and the City of Toronto, the project is expected to be completed in about five years.
TTC is taking delivery of 60 Alstom LRVs, which are being produced in Thunder Bay and jointly funded by C$568 million in contributions from the federal government, the Ontario government, and the City of Toronto. The first of the new vehicles entered service in 2023. They have been added to a fleet of 204 LRVs built by Bombardier Transportation, which Alstom acquired in 2021.
“Torontonians can expect six-minute or better service for the Dundas, Bathurst and St. Clair streetcars,” Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow said. “Today’s announcement will get Toronto moving by expanding Hillcrest Yard to service the city’s newly expanded streetcar fleet. We are making the TTC the better way to travel so people spend less time waiting and get to their destination faster.”
“Streetcars are a vital part of the TTC and the city, and I am pleased that we are expanding Hillcrest to ensure that we can store and maintain additional streetcars,” added TTC Chair Jamaal Myers. “Our goal is to run a sustainable transit system that our customers can continue to rely on and be proud of. This is a big step in that direction.”
“Expanding Hillcrest will allow us to modernize our facilities and future-proof our operations, and it is also the closest maintenance facility to the routes that the new streetcars are expected to serve—512 St Clair and potentially 511 Bathurst,” TTC CEO Greg Percy said. “It also means we can save on some costs by modifying existing infrastructure, rather than building a new facility.”
Metra
Metra on March 10 launched a survey and scheduled public outreach events to ask riders what they think about potentially renaming lines to make the system easier to understand and to encourage infrequent and first-time riders to ride more often. Research indicates that 7 out of 10 customers ride once per month or less, while 4 out of 10 ride only once per year, according to the regional/commuter railroad.
The renaming effort was spurred in part by the coming transition of the Union Pacific North, Northwest, and West line operation to Metra. Host freight railroad Union Pacific (UP) owns those lines and has historically operated them with its own employees. “Metra has been hiring many of UP’s workers and this spring will begin to directly run the service, and ‘Union Pacific’ will be phased out of the line names,” Metra reported.
Renaming the three UP lines presents Metra with an opportunity to reconsider all 11 line names, which it said “follow no logical or consistent pattern”:
- BNSF (BNSF) goes to Aurora.
- Heritage Corridor (HC) goes to Joliet.
- Metra Electric (ME) goes to University Park.
- Milwaukee District North (MD-N) goes to Fox Lake
- Milwaukee District West (MD-W) goes to Elgin.
- North Central Service (NCS) to Antioch.
- Rock Island (RI) goes to Joliet.
- SouthWest Service (SWS) goes to Manhattan.
- Union Pacific North (UP-N) goes to Kenosha.
- Union Pacific Northwest (UP-NW) goes to Harvard.
- Union Pacific West (UP-W) goes to Elburn.
Many are named after freight railroads like UP that used to or still operate the service, while some are named for directions, or how trains are powered, or their location in a historic corridor. On maps, signs, and timetables, each line uses a different color (see map below).
“The result can be confusing for new users, and for those who have limited proficiency with English,” Metra reported. “For instance, two lines have ‘Milwaukee’ in their names, because they were once part of the Milwaukee Road, but they do not go to that city.”
The survey asks riders to choose between three options (scroll down to see illustration):
- Retaining all the current names and colors except for the three UP lines.
- Using a single color for all lines and labeling all lines with an “M” for Metra paired with a number. For instance, M1, M2, M3, etc.
- Using a single color for lines that share a downtown station, and labeling them with a letter to indicate the direction they go from downtown paired with a number. For example, the three lines that use Ogilvie would be the same color, and would be labeled N1 (for the UP North), N4 (for the UP Northwest) and W2 (for the UP West).
Metra said it is in the early stages of a larger systemwide signage and wayfinding project, which will replace a variety of wayfinding, identification, and informational signs that have been installed over the years with redesigned signs that have a common appearance and use common language. It makes “practical and economic” sense to also consider changing the line names as part of this effort, it noted.
The effort will be in the design stage this year into 2026, transitioning to the manufacture/installation phase later in 2026. Metra said it hopes to complete the rollout of the new signs by early 2029.
Further Reading:
- Metra to STB: Ensure Passenger Service on UP Lines ‘Continues Uninterrupted’
- UP, Metra Move Closer to Service Transfer
- STB Orders Mediation for UP, Metra
- Judge Pronounces Common Carrier Obligation for ‘Commuter Rail’ Dead
Amtrak
Amtrak has updated its mobile app in an aim to make travel easier and more convenient for riders, it reported March 12. The latest version, available on iOS and Android, includes these improvements:
- Train Status and Schedule Adjustments: Riders now have easier access to their train status. Available on active trips (within 24 hours), train status and schedule adjustments will display on the reservation when the screen launches.
- Station-to-Station Train Tracker: The tracker, also available on Amtrak.com, shows how the train is progressing in relation to stations along its route.
- Upfront Seat Selection: Riders can now choose their preferred seat during the booking process. Available on trains with assigned seating, they can use this app feature for Acela trains as well as Business Class on the Northeast Regional, Palmetto, Vermonter, and Carolinian train services.
- New My Trips Tab: Riders can access active trips on a single screen. Active trips will automatically show if there is a reservation that day. My Trips also allows riders to tap between active, upcoming and past trips.
- Flexible Trip Modification: Riders can modify part of their trip through the mobile app. This new feature makes adjusting travel easier while keeping the best available fares, according to Amtrak.
- Redesigned Home Screen: Following rider requests, Amtrak has separated marketing messaging from tickets.
“Understanding our customers are constantly on the go, Amtrak is committed to continually improving and expanding our mobile platform,” Amtrak Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer Eliot Hamlisch said. “We’ve listened to our customers and improved the Amtrak app’s design and functionality for a better experience. These new updates make it even easier for customers to focus on their journey, with more convenient access to tickets, train status, and more while they’re on-the-go.”
