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The commuter rail agency will pay $154 million for eight two-car, zero-emission trains with a range of 45 to 65 miles, Metra said. Trains can be charged from 20% to 80% — enough to operate — in about 20 or 30 minutes. Metra hasn’t figured out a charging infrastructure yet or its cost. Metra said it’s one of the first U.S. commuter rail agencies to purchase battery-powered trains.
Summary and audio linked here.
Chicago’s political leadership is floating a pension buyout program as evidence it is seriously addressing the city’s thirty-six-billion-dollar unfunded pension liability, but Mark Glennon, founder of the Illinois policy research organization Wirepoints, said that the proposal moves debt from one column to another rather than reducing it, and that the broader fiscal picture facing the city continues to deteriorate across every measurable dimension. Audio here.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Full interview and summary linked here.
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Open window, throw out cash. Doesn’t bother Metra because it’s not their money they are wasting. Move along, nothing to see, business as usual.
For a entity facing dire budget shortfalls and bankruptcy, it sure behaves like a democrat run government agency expecting a Federal Bailout from the rest of the country’s states like Texas, Florida, Iowa, Wyoming.
Um, didn’t Metra see the line of Teslas in January unable to charge and retain a charge in the winter? Seems insane to proceed without more proof that they will work all the time.
Metra plan to run them on the Beverly Branch, where quieter operation and better acceleration would be an important feature. Also, should they fail, passengers will be reasonably close to CTA bus lines for alternate transport.
You can’t fix stupid.
Someone will make a boatload of money on this boondoggle but it won’t be the taxpayers.
What a joke.
I wonder if they did a field test with them this January? It would be a problem if the batteries died while people are out on the train lines on a very cold day. But this is Metra, where the top management team is not the sharpest tools in the shed. They cannot find any way to cut costs.
I’m retired from the railroad industry, the railroads started to implement hybrid diesels in yard service and they are expensive to maintain aside from what the railroads say, reliability not good.
Well that’s another $154 million down the drain.