Sunday, March 30th

Yesterday, the Board took action on the Brown Line construction project that will mean some improvements for customers and some new temporary headaches. We're moving forward on time and on budget and are now at the second phase of the three-track operation at Belmont and Fullerton. Here’s what will happen beginning Sunday, March 30^th:

• Southbound Brown Line trains will be limited to one southbound track at the Belmont and Fullerton stations;
• To ease the temporary congestion resulting from three-tracking, we're adding eight car trains (from the current six car trains) to the Brown Line during morning and evening rush hours almost two years ahead of schedule;
• In order to safely provide eight-car trains, Paulina and Wellington stations will close temporarily because they can only berth six-car trains;
• We'll reopen the Southport station and open a temporary station at Diversey, both of which will be able to accommodate eight car trains (service will reopen at these stations almost three months earlier than originally planned). Work to install elevators and complete the stationhouse at Diversey will continue throughout the spring;
• Ridership capacity on the Red Line will be reduced by twenty percent;
• Current Purple Line service will not change.

I encourage you to read through the press release and visit the three track website (which I link above) so you can be prepared for your commute on March 30th.

Thank you for your patience and flexibility as we continue to move forward in completing this historic project. For those of you who haven't yet seen the renovated stations, I encourage you to take a ride (not during rush hour, ha) or visit our Brown Line project site for photos and a progress chart of what we've accomplished so far.