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C & NW Provides Fast Service IN ILLINOIS, TEE RIDER IS KING Roaring toward Chicago at high speeds from six different directions every workday morning are strings of double deck commuter cars bearing the emblems of four different railroads. They are clean, well lighted, warm in winter, cool in summer, and almost always on time. In their seats are perhaps the country's most contented railroad commuters. This is in striking contrast to the situation that is rapidly building toward a crisis around New York. There are two basic reasons why railroad commuter service is so much better in suburban Chicago. One is that most of the railroad managements there desired to make it so, and had the money for credit to implement their desires. The second is an enlightened public commission. To four of Chicago's six major commuter railroads, the commuter is king. Together, these four have spent an aggregate $100-million in the past 10 years for modernization of suburban service. As a consequence they have held far more riders than the New York commuter lines. They have also cut or erased huge deficits, since newer equipment reduces their costs. ADVANTAGES Most of these Chicago lines deal with a single state regulatory body, the Illinois Commerce Commission, which has repeatedly accepted railroad contentions that they deserve fare increases if they operate modern equipment. Until recently Chicago has had nothing like the New York's celebrated parkway system, which dates back to the 1930s, and this, too, has helped the Chicago lines. DANGER SIGNAL Now that expressway building in and around Chicago is in high gear, however, railroads are running into experiences similar to those that hit New York years ago. The Illinois Central's daily passenger total, for example, has plummeted from 67,000 in 1957 to 16,000 today, with nearly half the decrease coming after the opening of a new expressway. For the same reason, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific tost 10% of its passengers in 1963. When the Kennedy Expressway opened several years ago, the Chicago & North Western, perhaps the classic case of a successful suburban operation lost 7.3% of its passengers. At the time, the North Western had actually been making a slim profit from its commuter service. But after the expressway opened, it lost a combined $4- million in 1961 and 1962 when passengers deserted the railroad for concrete. Operations were back in the black in 1963, though, to a tune of $706,000 -- for a significant reason. Extensive highway building north of Chicago had helped bring the demise of an electric interurban railway, the Chicago North Shore & Milwaukee. But when all the former North Shore passengers were turned loose, the highways became so jammed that the North Western added customers. It now carries 72,000, up from 62,000 a decade ago. NO PLAN Many in Chicago fear that as such changes occur a lack of foresight and over-all planning may someday create the same problems for Chicago commuter lines that the New York lines now suffer from. Even with the relative success of the Chicago railroads, there are problems that could halt the system in the future, says one top official. "Public bodies react only to crisis," he points out. "Thus," he saysj "there has been no comprehensive transportation plan completed to produce an integrated system of expressways, rapid transit, and commuter lines. Unless there is this plan, in 10 or 15 years we will find Chicago's favorable transportation situation changing to unfavorable." NORTH WESTERN'S WAY For the time being, however, conditions are comparatively favorable. Take the case of the North Western. It was saddled with a $2.1-million suburban deficit in 1957, when Chmn. Ben W. Heineman and Pres. Clyde J. Fitzpatrick spent their first year in control of the railroad. They concluded that the route to improvement lay in offering a first class product. At the same time, they sought to trim operating costs to a minimum and to obtain higher fares and other concessions from the Illinois Commerce Commission. After a year of testimony and cross examination that filled 4,700 pages, the North Western won the right to close 22 of its 88 commuter stations: these were the stations closest to the city that were also being served by rapid transit lines. More importantly, it obtained 24% increase in flares. In a related move, Heineman persuaded the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. to lend the road what finally amounted to $50-million to purchase new equipment. MUSTS With the new equipment came to edicts from Heineman: Trains would be run on time; commuters would be pampered. "It is not acceptable on this railroad to have late trains," he explains. "You have to establish this spirit all the way down to the engine men and then up to the supervisors, the general manager, the president, and the chairman,." This gives another insight into the success of the C&NW'S commuter service. "You can't have successful suburban service without support, interest, attention, and devotion of top management," Heineman declares. "If top management doesn't want it, it's not going to happen." Two other moves, unusual for commuter railroads, that Heineman instituted were an advertising campaign and special classes to teach conductors how to be polite. Since 1959, the North Western has sponsored radio mm helicopter traffic report programs, seeking out the people it considers its prime potential customers.-- motorists stalled in traffic. OTHERS, TOO Sparked by the North Western, other commuter roads around Chicago have been able to sell similar modernization programs to their directors, stockholders, and commuters. The Chicago, Burlington &Quincy, for example, has spent $20-million for 94 double deck commuter cars and $4.2-million to build a computerized traffic control system. To offset these expenditures the Burlington has been able to increase fores six times. Even so, its fares are still lower than those in New York. Average cost per trip on a 46-ride ticket for a 21- mile trip ranges from 54 cents to 64 cents on five of the six Chicago railroads. This works out to monthly commutation costs of $24.84 to $29.44 for that distance. By comparison, New York railroads charge $30 to $37.55 for the same distance. With its 18,000 daily riders to the west of the city, the Burlington says it barely manages to break even on its commuter service. As for the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific, when William J. Quinn became presideht in 1958, the line was losing $2-million a year on commuter runs. By 1961, he had begun replacing 112 standard coaches McHENRY -- PRICE DRASTICALLY REDUCED Beautiful 2 bedrooms, beamed ceiling, all paneled maintenance-free home, fireplace, two-car garage, full basement. Only $17,500. McHENRY SHORES 3 bedrooms, dining room, 1 car attached garage, blacktop driveway, carpeting, drapes, water rights w private pier. $16,900. WALK TO SHOPPING 2 bedrooms, concrete driveway, 1 car attached garage. $13,750. MUST SEE THIS MAINTENANCE-FREE HOME 2 bedroms, * dining area off parlor, all aluminum sided, blacktop drive, range, refrigerator ,humidifier, patio -- extra lot included in this price $13,500. i with bi-levels costing $ll-milllon<> The road has won fare increases, introduced new tickets, and built several new stations. Its yearly passenger figures are up 600,000 riders in four years, the deficit has been cut in half, and Quinn hopes to get into the black within a few years. The Rock Island, which is spending $3.1 - million, began receiving the first of its 20 new double decks early this year, has refurbished and air-conditioned 20 other cars, and within two years hopes to replace more than 100 of its remaining conventional cars with double deckers. HOLDOUTS The two mavericks in Chicago commuting are the Illinois Central and the Chicago South Shore & South Bend. Both operate elactrlc multiple unit cars of early vintage and have no plans to buy new ones. In the fall, the IC, however, will introduce a $3.1- million automatic fare collection system that will save it money. Passengers will be able to pass through station gates at both ends of their trips only after inserting a magnetically coded card. The South Shore is by far the smallest of the commuter lines and, financially speaking, the most like its cousins in New York. It lost money on its passengers for the past 15 years, though its 1964 loss of $300,000 is half what is was in 1958. 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