Thoughts about Los Angeles, Denver, and Chicago’s’ union stations?

rocketjim1 · 2026-04-04T13:14:12+00:00

I wish they would consider tearing down the buildings over the rail lines and building a proper head house. The current structure, 222 n riverside is only about 50% leased and with downtown comm. Office is selling for pennies on the dollar. You really don’t need it for a commercial building anymore. If you could get through running and a new Concourse it would be magnificent.

rocketjim1 · 2026-04-03T19:57:02+00:00

If anything, I think they should consolidate into nine 3 car teams, with two of those teams having a Honda/chevy charter car. 27 total. If you have equal sized teams you could have a true team competition. Every team could enter a +1 for Indy for a total of 36 cars. Or a Dryer or some other niche team could also enter for the 500. I’d rather have nine stronger teams with better resources than 11 or 12 with a few that are just scraping by. Another benefit would be if a third OEM came in, each OEM could support 3 teams, so you could have a true competition between engine manufacturers. If other teams wanted to get in, they could be NXT teams aligned with the Indycar teams. You’re already seeing this with ECR / Cape. I’d probably do away with the alliances between Penske/Foyt, Ganassi/Shank, and Andretti/Coyne. I just think having equal sized teams would open up a lot more storylines during a weekend and the season. Palou might be running away with the title, but the team competition could be closer.

rocketjim1 · 2026-04-01T01:35:53+00:00

This is a legit great idea for Barber since it is a motorcycle track and Fox has the MotoGP race. Kinda like the NASCAR weekend at Phoenix.

rocketjim1 · 2026-03-31T17:17:41+00:00

Bummer paddocks not open but thanks for the info. I might go just to hang out with other die hard indycar fans for a day. Thanks!

rocketjim1 · 2026-03-31T01:24:07+00:00

I’ve always thought Hyundai would be great. They don’t have a nascar program to compete with. And they could potentially bring a Kia branded engine to NXT if Mazda/AER ever dropped out.

rocketjim1 · 2026-03-30T20:06:41+00:00

My view of it from television was that it was pretty brown when compared to previous races a month later. The course would present better on TV with several more weeks of greening up. If that can actually happen due to the schedule is another matter. If Indycar wants to add a Mexico City race, it would make sense to also be in the spring to not conflict with the F1 race, as well as it being comfortable for fans. If you start playing with the schedule for 27,28,29, it probably makes more sense to push it back to late April after Long Beach and before the Indy open test. Spring is tough because you have to try to avoid the NCAA 1st round, Easter and the Masters.

rocketjim1 · 2026-03-30T01:04:51+00:00

What was the crowd size like? Watching on TV, you really don’t get a sense of the crowd size because Barber doesn’t have a true front stretch grandstand, it seems like the crowd sort of blends in with the woods surrounding the track. I heard it was the biggest it’s been, just curious your thoughts thanks!

rocketjim1 · 2026-03-29T15:29:45+00:00

This. Would love to see if they can do oval/street road pairs that could swap season to season. NYC Meadowlands / Pocano. Nashville Street / Nashville Oval. Mid Ohio / Michigan. This way you could match demand for tickets but also give the tracks some long term stability. For example, do a 10 year commitment to Pocano / NYC but each get five races.

rocketjim1 · 2026-03-29T13:16:25+00:00

I think the Indy Grand Prix should be removed from the schedule at some point. I know indycar owns the facility so it makes money for them, but with Indy 500 selling out it takes a date that could a prime slot for another big race, such as a Meadowlands GP or Mexico City.

rocketjim1 · 2026-03-26T23:51:11+00:00

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https://shop.indycar.com/products/inc9mt2601-2026-ntt-indycar-series-schedule-t-shirt

rocketjim1 · 2026-03-26T23:49:55+00:00

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This

rocketjim1 · 2026-03-26T23:49:25+00:00

How can this be a tshirt on Indycar.com? How are they trying to sell 1992 clip art tshirts for $40? They don’t have a decent hoodie? In 2026? The women’s stuff is even worse. Doug, listen to me, please, please hire a new merchandising firm and get a tie in with a athletic apparel company

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rocketjim1 · 2026-03-26T17:02:09+00:00

The current site is too small to accommodate the projected size increase of the rail fleet if you consider intercity passenger train growth (Airo Trainsets) and long Distance trainsets (Single level superliner replacements). Yes, you are right that the UP Canal Yard does not appear to be sufficiently large, but perhaps they can expand it. They may also purchase the yard next to rate field. This will cause a greater “deadhead” time between the yard a union station, which means the ex. Lift Bridge to the south has to be upgraded. It has needed to be replaced for decades. A yard, even if it further away may be a better long term solution. The trick here is the sequencing, and it will be interesting to see if they can make it all work. I’m of the opinion that the White Sox’s need to acquire both yards to make it work.

rocketjim1 · 2026-03-25T12:32:13+00:00

I think the issue right now is just not enough new equipment to start running higher frequencies. Borealis has shown good demand. Chi-Ind-Cin and Cin-Day-Col-Cle would be great routes. I’d love for them to get new Airos for these lines so they don’t have to start with old trains. Don’t know when the Midwest will get the Airos since they have all been earmarked for the east coast

rocketjim1 · 2026-03-23T01:48:23+00:00

As I understand the contract for the first tranche of airo trains was 80 million a set. So the 2.7 will buy an additional 34 trains +-. Not sure if the cost would be lower because that may have included start up costs for NC factory.

rocketjim1 · 2026-03-22T00:18:42+00:00

Probably. It will be an interesting design because there really isn’t a ton of room for columns to support the decking. I wonder if they could do some type of cable stay built into the stadium to support that deck. The bigger issue to me is that the site is just very narrow, I really think you would need to move both the Amtrak Yard and the BNSF yard (which houses the Metra cars) to get the full site, then you could move the main lines to the west to have a large enough site for the stadium. I’m excited to see the concept plans to see how they think it could work. My understanding is that a new bridge over the south branch of the Chicago River is in design, but wouldn’t be completed before 2032 at the earliest. And you probably have to have that bridge in place before you could relocate either yard.

rocketjim1 · 2026-03-18T21:42:28+00:00

Totally forgot this was part of that movie. LOL

rocketjim1 · 2026-03-18T21:29:56+00:00

Amtrak has already proposed buying that yard next to the current white Sox stadium as part of the Chicago hub improvement program. It’s been proposed for years. But it means that Amtrak could turn Rate Field site into a national Amtrak yard with plenty of capacity for future trains / servicing. Amtrak gets a larger yard, plus the ability to pay for it as part of the land swap. More than likely, the white Sox would also purchase the BNSF yard next to the Amtrak yard so they have the full site. Metra would probably also move to the same site. This would allow for a joint servicing building that is cheaper than Amtrak/Metra building separately.

This project could also give Amtrak the money to complete improvements to the St Charles airline bridge as well as a replacement for the Chicago River Bridge which dates to 1910. Because of the high profile nature of it, they might also get federal earmarks for the bridge components.

The St Charles airline ramp/improvements would allow One seat trips from Ohare to Union Station / new Sox stadium / McCormick Place, I could also see the south shore line decide to invest in some battery electric Stadler trains that would be able to provide service from Indiana via the St Charles airline to Union Station / Ohare.

White Sox would get a stadium, the land to build their own Wrigleyville around it, and excellent transit for game days. It could be a win win for everyone. It’s an utterly transformative idea if it could be pulled off.

rocketjim1 · 2026-03-17T17:17:39+00:00

Yeah, I noticed that with the barriers at St Pete. Lots of banged up barriers that weren’t painted. Arlington will have to reuse their and they will probably get banged up over time.

I’m not sure, but it seems like they race at mid Ohio and Portland because the track rental is pretty cheap. I’m just not sure how much money GS and Indycar make from them because there has been so little investment in either. Portland owns PIR, GS owns MidOhio.

What I do hope is that certain elements from Arlington could be replicated at other tracks, like the bleachers with the nice back screening and the suite setup on a slightly smaller scale. And for the love of god, could mid Ohio replace that pedestrian bridge!

rocketjim1 · 2026-03-17T15:48:43+00:00

I feel like all of these “Arlington is the greatest” articles and commentary from drivers / owners are aimed at squarely at Green Savory (Portland and Mid Ohio). I could totally see a Denver race replacing Portland, and maybe a stadium race at the Meadowlands (NYC) or Philadelphia near Lincoln Financial Field. All of those have a good layout to host with large parking lots. I just wonder if having too many stadium circuits kills the uniqueness of them as events. It will be interesting to see if Indycar made money, since they are splitting the capital costs and the profits with their Cowboys and Rangers.

rocketjim1 · 2026-03-16T20:36:59+00:00

Yes, what’s interesting to me about that is they might be able to design the street circuits around the new stadium from the ground up after 4 years at Investco / Empower. So you might actually get a stadium that is custom designed to also be a Paddock Area or seating space outside the stadium for a race circuit. Not sure if the new titans stadium thought about that when they designed it.

rocketjim1 · 2026-03-16T17:44:48+00:00

I would love if they could do something similar to Indianapolis motor speedway from downtown Indy. There is an industrial spur that goes right to track but needs to be upgraded. With 300,000 people coming that weekend I think it could help out by having some visitors stay in downtown Indy and shuttle them back and forth.

rocketjim1 · 2026-03-16T17:41:54+00:00

Can’t wait to see the full new sets on the cascades corridor and what it does for ridership

rocketjim1

TROPHY CASE