Over the past two weekend I had to drive through Chicago on I-94. I noticed that South of the loop the CTA line that is between the lanes of I-94 appears to be getting a total reconstruction - from the tracks to the stations and most likely the signal system.
Anyone have local knowledge of what is taking place and the expected duration and scope of the project. Personal observation says that having the line shut down can't be helping the White Sox attendence, with the stadium being immediately adjacent to the line.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Lots of info about the whole project here:
http://www.transitchicago.com/news_initiatives/projects/redsouth/alternatives.aspx
It's a total, ground up rebuild.
The reroute of the Red Line to the Green Line (recreating the pre-1992 Howard/Englewood routing) took care of getting people to White Sox games, but the White Sox sub-.400 play hasn't made them a big draw this year...
CJtrainguy Lots of info about the whole project here: http://www.transitchicago.com/news_initiatives/projects/redsouth/alternatives.aspx It's a total, ground up rebuild.
Thanks! Discription makes it seem like virtually no real maintenance and upkeep has taken place since the line opened.
Some maintnenance has been done over the years (tie replacement, some rail, station upgrades) but CTA's budget has been too tight over the years to provide for major projects.
In fairness, CTA has accomplished a complete rebuilding on the Green Line (Lake Street and South Side Main) and a big rebuilding on the Brown Line (Ravenswood) over the last several years. I believe that there is an ongoing project on the O'Hare line to eliminate several slow zones. The will to perform these projects is there but the money is not.
The Red line presented more difficult problems than the other lines because of close clearances and long spaces between road accesses. The estimate for a rebuild-in-place with no shutdown was something like three years instead of five months.
CTA is expecting the Dan Ryan Red Line to reopen around October 19th.
Hmmm. Ought to be open today...
After some VIP runs it opened late yesterday.
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