Imo martha ST feels like a mountain

I think there should be more infill stations on the Southwest Service, rather than an extension. I propose adding a station at Route 30 in New Lenox, to provide a transfer to the Rock Island District. I think there should also be another station in Orland Park: Alpine. That would benefit more residents in Orland Park an fill a 3.5 mile gap between 153rd and 179th street stations. Further north, I would like to see a station at Oak Lawn, since it is a decently sized suburb with no passenger rail service. This would greatly benefit residents in the area as well as a large commercial area, as long as the station is built on Route 20. Within the Chicago city limits, I would recommend bringing back the two stations at Western Avenue and Halsted Street, as well as an infill station at Englewood/63rd, providing a potential connection to the Green Line. Lastly, I would recommend adding a infill station at 35th Street, providing a connection to both the Red Line and the Rock Island District.

The Purple Line is already a good line, and it doesn't need any extensions. Although, if it did follow the UP-North right of way, I think there should be stops at the intersection at Emerson/Ridge, Simpson, Lincoln, and another stop at Central. This could benefit residents in that area, as well as give them a connection to the UP-North line at Central. But, the purple line already connects to the UP-North line twice at Main and Davis, so it would probably end at Lincoln. This could benefit residents in northwest Evanston, and be the most cost effective. But I doubt that extension will be built.

It’s amazing what a massive difference the little things make. All they had to do was use the standard method of booking train tickets (as done in Europe), or airplane tickets and let you pick your seats on the train so that families and groups can sit together. Ruined our trip. 1 star. Won’t take the train again.

I'll have to check, but I am pretty sure the new train takes a different path than the Empire Builder, so some other cities are served. Certainly the Borealis and Empire Builder must share the same path at the beginning and end of the Borealis path.

Chicago needs to implement the Ashland BRT system ASAP!

They really need the new Siemens train sets on this route, as well as the Hiawatha. The old ones smell like urine

I LOVE YOU AND THE CREW!!!!! GREAT VIDEO!!!!

Don’t need an extension to the far suburbs.

What a waste. The Monon ran to Dyer. Service ended and tracks pulled up. Now tracks being put down again to go where the Monon originally ran.

The north branch on the MD-N would be a huge benefit for the city of Gurnee so people can get to Six Flags Great America easily instead of using the UP-N which is more longer

Definitely love the orange line extension, should definitely be considered.

10:22 believe you me, we can go way faster than that. I drive the Manteno route occasionally and I’ve gone as fast as almost 70 going down route 50, just to make it remotely on time.

Good thing Portage is the least used station in Wisconsin. There is very little parking. Still coming from the North it is convienently just off 39.

Cicle line and Clinton street subway

I recorded your train at the Lake Cook Road station!

I'ma wanted to railfan the *Borealis train*. but stormy kara would you come back to canal Street some day?

These last 6 months the train is Never on time and running Late 50% of the time. It's a very irresponsible and inconsistent company!

So today (6/4/24) the weekday 4:53P (Eastern Time Zone) Westbound to Chicago per the latest (May 24th) timetable shows the first stop at Hudson Lake to arrive at 3:17P (Central Time Zone)… a nominal 24 minutes. The train was 15 minutes late!! No intervening stops… no reason not to be on time. What the hell! What kinda service are they running? They can’t even get a train to the first stop on time? I’m beginning to think this 1/2 billion + ‘improvement’ is a joke. PS: In 1960 the SSL ran trains during the week into and out of South Bend every 1/2 hour from 9A to 5P!! Trains in to South Bend arrived at 5 past the hour and left at 25 past the hour. There were also trains before that 9A - 5P block. 60 years ago!! I have the timetable. Service in and out of South Bend sucks!

Ahh, the sweet sounds of discussing Chicago transit 😊

I need to look more into the schedules but I love how this gives me more opportunities for random day trips to the Dells!

Doubling the frequency by adding one whole new slow train trip averaging a whopping 54 mph must really be phenomenal and a cause for great celebration.

Transit equity? You actually used that term? So I supposeif minority folks served by this line extension don't want to use it, you'll be here in a few years decrying the racism of the trains? Or the stations?

Always excited to see rail expansion, and Minneapolis is my favourite of the US cities I've newly visited in recent years. But I wish we had high speed trains in the US, and even a quarter of the frequency I normally expect in many other counties.

Portage is not Amtraks least used station i think that belong so some city down south

ditch the music

0:12 This graphic is wonderful.Thats all

I wish the Schaumburg blue line extension existed because I love by there

Oh! Oh! I've got another one.. They could extend one of the Saluki or Illini trains down to Memphis. Same route and stations as the City of New Orleans but it will offer a new travel option for those south of Carbondale. In twelve years when the service finally begins you can all thank me.

Wow, I watched you go by from the southbound train. I’m so glad this train is finally here and to be part of such a momentous occasion!

I can't believe you actually did this, what a long day.

George Lucas spotted at 5:06 in Winona, MN

Other than a North Coast restoration and maybe a few dedicated Milwaukee Airport shuttles, not much more can be done. Although with the North Coast they should double the Borealis so you have the Long Distance and present trip as being day/arrive-depart maybe at dawn or dusk most of the year with an additional night train (with the Madison reroute, it could hold there for a bit longer since it would likely have to reverse to reach Portage/Milwaukee as well as only being 7-8hrs so it doesn't have a late departure/early arrival. Depart around 10 and arrive 6:30-7:30 doesn't sound that bad going end to end)

hey i know you two >w> awesome showcase of the Borealis! wish we had one of those down here 🔥

It is _so_ annoying that it took 12 years for Amtrak and the states to figure out how to extend a train from MKE to MSP. It's not even a "new" train - just an extended Hiawatha. Glad it happened, happy for the folks north of Milwaukee but holy carp, we need to do better.

Speaking of steamed hams, I’m eagerly awaiting Amtrak to do this same thing to the ALB-BOS portion of the Lake Shore Limited. Maybe call it The Minuteman?

Glad I met one of my fav KZfaqr on the first train 😂🎉

Why didn't u walk around Quincy is there really nothing?

Dang only 277 veiws

Ofc caleb made you do this

really love seeing a new Amtrak service here in WI! hopefully the proposed idea of getting a train up to Fond du Lac/Oshkosh/Appleton/Green Bay works out eventually. Portage is the closest station to me, but it's still a 2-hr drive away, so it makes travelling by train near-impossible for me (as someone that can't drive).

Something worth mentioning is St Paul Union Depot is a hub for the Twin Cities' light-rail system as well as different bus services, so now more people will be taking transit to Union Depot for the Borealis! The current Union Depot was started in 1917 but was not completed until 1923 because World War I caused construction to halt for several years. It was designed by Charles Sumner Frost who is best known as the architect of Navy Pier and for designing over 100 buildings for the Chicago and North Western Railway, including the former Chicago and North Western Terminal in 1911 on the site of what's now the Ogilvie Transportation Center (which of course the original terminal since been demolished and rebuilt in the 1980s) and the historic Chicago and North Western Railway Power House! He also designed the George C. Walker Library in Chicago's Morgan Park.

aaaaaaaaaaaaa Thank you for taking us along for the ride!!! I am always searching for hiking trails or anything with elevation in close proximity of Chicago by train. I have been scouting google maps for places with ANY elevation along the borealis, and i saw in your video there were quite a few hills out there! Do you happen to recall where you saw the most hilly/elevated areas? I want to take a trip out into the middle of nowhere and take a walk through some hills, but I really have to choose wisely because I'm definitely gonna be stuck wherever I land for a good while, and most of the cities along this route seem kinda dull/not pedestrian friendly/uninteresting entirely💀

Here’s to more extensions and new lines 🥂

1:59 Here's me roasting you in the comments for that one... u dummie

Solid video as always, concise and informative!

Great video, Stormy!

I NEED THE OUTRO MUSIC BACK it’s too fire

Can think of far worse things to do to mark a big day than roaming around the underbelly of ORD - good work and belated gratz! \m/

all the foamers dropping vids on this this week