The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning and the Metropolitan Planning Organization Committee have approved new funding for Metra. The approval will allow for Metra to receive a $169.3 million grant from the federal Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement grant. The money will go towards new electric train sets to be used on multiple lines in order to better and increase service, though no delivery date was announced.
Major track work has been completed for the first portion of the Forest Park Branch Rebuild project from the Chicago Transit Authority. The multi-phase project was announced earlier this summer as part of a greater effort to reduce slow zones along the line and improve passenger experience. The work itself was led by the CTA and will continue with the complete reconstruction of the Racine station.
Three of the largest rail providers in North America have announced a new partnership for service across Canada, The United States, and Mexico. The new partnership made up of Canada National (CN), Union Pacific Railroad (UP), and Grupo Mexico Transportes (GMXT) will become the second to ever serve the three countries and will use Chicago as its main interchange point.
The main Chicago Greyhound bus station at 630 W Harrison Street in the Near West Side has been put up for sale for redevelopment. Located on the corner with S Jefferson Street near downtown, it is bound on the north and west sides by the newly redesigned circle interchange and is one of multiple Greyhound stops in the city. After switching hands a few times in the last years, the site has now been listed by Texas-based CBRE in a move that similarly led to the sale of the Greyhound facility where Halsted Pointe is set to rise.