Highliner

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Highliner
standard gauge

The Highliner is a

Chicago, Illinois, with an additional batch later produced by Bombardier. A second generation featuring a completely new design was produced by Nippon Sharyo
beginning in 2005.

History

In 1926, the Illinois Central's commuter rail lines were electrified, and began operating as the "

catenary
and were more efficient than their heavyweight predecessors. A typical Highliner was able to seat 156 passengers and run faster than the heavyweight fleet.

In 1976, the newly formed

Metra Electric Line
.

Metra Electric Highliner I at Ivanhoe, IL

An additional batch of 36 Highliners was built from 1978 to 1979 by the Bombardier company. Starting in 2005, the aged original fleet, which was increasingly prone to breakage and experiencing soaring maintenance costs, began to be phased out. They were replaced by new Highliners built by Nippon Sharyo of Japan, the same company that is currently in charge of production of Metra's fleet of gallery cars. The last revenue run of the original Highliner cars was on February 12, 2016. Metra confirmed in a Facebook post that twenty-four cars are being sent to museums around the Midwestern United States, including the Illinois Railway Museum, while the other cars were sent to Mendota, Illinois to be scrapped.[3]

Highliner II

The Nippon Sharyo Highliners are similar in appearance to the gallery cars used on Metra's diesel lines. The

South Shore Line, which operates on the Metra Electric from Millennium Station to Kensington/115th Street before diverging east to Indiana, also purchased and operates the Highliner II to supplement its fleet of EMUs.[4]

Metra has begun testing 90mph operations on part of the Metric Electric District and has committed to getting the entire network to 79mph. Signaling and catenary work has begun. The previous 65mph limit was a result of 1926 Pullman stock braking algorithms which were replaced by Highliner I and no longer relevant.[5]

  • A second generation Nippon Sharyo Highliner on Metra Electric at Bryn Mawr.
    A second generation Nippon Sharyo Highliner on
    Bryn Mawr
    .
  • A second generation Metra Nippon Sharyo Highliner at Millennium Station.
    A second generation Metra Nippon Sharyo Highliner at Millennium Station.
  • A second generation South Shore Line Nippon Sharyo Highliner at Millennium Station.
    A second generation South Shore Line Nippon Sharyo Highliner at Millennium Station.

Fleet

Car Numbers Initial User Year built Builder Notes
1227-1386 Metra 2012–2016 Nippon Sharyo
1201-1226 2005–2006
301-314 NICTD 2008–2009
1631-1666 RTA 1978–1979 Bombardier
1501-1630 Illinois Central 1971–1972 St. Louis Car #1509 destroyed in 1972 Chicago train collision

References

  1. ^ a b c 25 kV AC ELECTRIFICATION PROJECT ASSESSMENT OF ELECTRIC MULTIPLE UNITS PASSENGER RAIL CARS Page 25-27
  2. ^ Houston, Jack (April 16, 1972). "Suburb Transit Districts Eye Public Funds". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
  3. ^ "Metra - Metra Train #117 operates past the 18th St station".
  4. ^ "MassTransitMag.com » Article » Indiana's South Shore Commuter Capacity Growing". Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-04-25.
  5. ^ says, Laurence Carbonetti (2024-02-28). "Metra project underway to increase speeds on Electric District". Trains. Retrieved 2024-02-28.

External links

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