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
- Southbound Brown Line trains will be limited to one southbound track at the
- 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
- We'll reopen the
- 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.
posted by Carole Brown | 2/14/2008 03:21:00 PM
24 Comments:
Carole,
It sounds like the CTA is really working to increase capacity wherever possible during the upcoming southbound single-tracking. The 8-car Brown Line trains and the North/Clybourn "sneaker trains" are good ideas.
But I haven't heard any plans to have Purple Line trains stop at Sheridan to help relieve the crush of Red Line passengers north of Belmont. Purple Line trains are relatively empty at Sheridan and could carry Red Line riders waiting at Sheridan and thus make more room on the Red Line for riders waiting at Addison. This would also reduce the number of people standing and transfering at the busy Belmont platform.
I know this has been suggested before by readers here. I think it is a good idea. Hopefully it will be implemented as another way to increase capacity.
I think the southbound single-tracking will be more painful than the northbound has been. Trains are almost alwasy more crowded in the morning than in the evening as most people start work at about the same time, but leave work over a more spread out period of time and may not go home right away.
I hope for the best. So far, CTA has managed the 3-tracking very well. Good luck!
Hi Carole,
The eight-car Brown Line and weekend Yellow Line service are both very much appreciated and show that the CTA is working to put the nastiness of doomsdays behind it. I was extremely worried that three-track would be disastrous last year, but things seem to be going smoothly.
My only suggestion would be to pay more attention to providing better off-peak service, particularly when work is ongoing. For some reason the powers that be seem to think four-car trains are sufficient during evenings and weekends when in fact trains are packed worse than during rush hour. It's further compounded when delays cause ten to twenty minute waits between trains.
It would also help if the #8, #36, and lakefront express routes other than the #147 ran with regular frequency and reliability, but that's a whole different issue.
Also, what are your thoughts on Mayor Daley's plans for capital improvement?
Carole, yes please please consider having the Purple line stop at Sheridan. A LOT of people that take Red southbound in the morning from Sheridan and further North transfer to a Brown/Purple at Belmont in the morning. Belmont is already jammed in the mornings with trasferring riders, far more than it is in the evening commute. Having Purple stop at Sheridan would probably take at least a few hundred people off the Belmont platform during the morning rush. I think this is imperative to put into place from both a practical and safety standpoint. Also, it will cost very little to do the improvement. You can include it in the signs/communication about the 3-tracking March 30, no need for another separate communication.
I'm loath to cross the puple-line-at-Sheridan cult, but I have to say it's nice that we have at least one express route left in the CTA system, and I think it would be unfortunate to continue to whittle away at its express-ness.
Sheridan is too close to an existing stop to make sense for an express train. If the purple line was going to be tinkered with, a better idea would be to bring the Wilson purple line platform (SB) back into service, and have the train run nonstop between Howard, Wilson, Belmont, and Fullerton. That would more or less preserve current running time but provide an extra pre-Belmont boarding point, to the extent one is needed.
Suburban riders need to share the pain of three-tracking. Added capcity is needed wherever it can be found. It wouldn't cost the CTA a penny more to stop the Purple Line at Sheridan. Renovating the outer SB platform at Wilson is a different story. How much time is saved by not stopping the Purple Line at Sheridan? It will still have to wait its turn to get into the Belmont station.
The argument that the Purple Line can't stop at Sheridan because it is too close to Belmont misses the point.
The Red Line is already usually full when it reaches Sheridan. This will only get worse when the time between trains increases in April.
In the meantime, Purple Line trains go slowly past the Sheridan stop with not a single person standing and with even a few empty seats.
Try and defend your need for "expressness" to those riders at Sheridan and Addison that can't get onto the packed Red Line trains as the relatively empty Purple Line goes by.
I agree, the Purple line already goes by Sheridan at no more than 15mph due to the sharp curves. It would add maybe 1 minute to the ride on the Purple line to stop at Sheridan. I think its really silly that ONLY Evanston has an express train. It should make a couple stops in the far North side as well and once the Brown line project is complete, it should skip Wellington/Diversey/Armitage/Sedgewick as it did for many years. In fact, Loyola and Wilson used to be express train stops when the line opened.
After Ron Huberman hosted a cocktail party to celebrate his winning State mass transit funding bill CTA exempt workers were expecting 2007 retroactive pay and 2008 salary increases. Did CTA forget that many of the exempt workers are struggling with financial burdens?
(Chiming in for a good idea) :
Please consider stopping Purple line trains at Sheridan during the rest of three tracking.
Crowding on the southbound platforms at Belmont and Fullerton is and will continue to be an issue during three tracking.
If Southbound Purple trains stop at Sheridan during the morning rush, the gives Red and Purple riders an option for transferring, that ALSO happens to alleviate some crowding at Belmont and/or Fullerton.
Perhaps a trial of Southbound Purple trains stopping at Sheridan for a couple of weeks at the beginning of the three track would clearly show that this idea helps alleviate platform overcrowding.
Why don't people wait and see if there truly is a major problem with overcrowding before they suggest having the purple line stop at Sheridan. I think a strong case can be made that the extra two cars on every brown line train, coupled with people using alternative transportation and leaving at different times, will be enough. I can guarantee that once the purple line starts stopping at Sheriden it is not going to stop doing so. People who had gotten used to it would start complaining. So an argument that this should be done only during the three track phase is not pursuasive. I think it is important that as much of the "express" as possible be preserved for the purple line. It runs express for a reason, to make commutes faster. And, as someone mentioned, the fact that Sheridan is so close to Belmont makes it so that very few people would have a significantelly more convenient commute if the train were to stop there. I think a strong argument could be made that the purple line should have a stop somewhere in the middle or end of the red line to make it more conveniant for those who live closer to the Northern border of the city. If the line should add a stop it should be there. Of course, that is difficult to do since the stations are not equiped for a purple line stop right now.
"Of course, that is difficult to do since the stations are not equipped for a purple line stop right now."
Sheridan already has platforms that are between tracks 1&2 and tracks 3&4. That's why there's no additional operational cost, other than the 30 seconds to 1 minute it would take to stop.(For those that don't know, the same platform design as Fullerton and Belmont) Neither the Red nor Purple line will ever travel fast through this station as there are two opposing 90 degree curves at the immediate ends of this station.
"People who had gotten used to it would start complaining. So an argument that this should be done only during the three track phase is not pursuasive."
Having the Purple line stop at Sheridan southbound only during AM rush/during three tracking only is about as persuasive as having the Purple line stop at Sheridan in PM rush/during Cubs games. Setting expectations as such is already working at that same station for the same line.
"I think it is important that as much of the 'express' as possible be preserved for the purple line."
The purple line hasn't been called nor run as an "express" route for years. It stops at every platform that connects to both the northbound and southbound tracks except Sheridan. It even stops at Diversey/Wellington when it "could" express past those stations on a different track. It's called the Purple Line to Howard - Loop with notations on AM and PM rush lines on every other train "d - Trip serves the Loop". An example can be seen here:
http://www.transitchicago.com/maps/rail/purple/Linden.pdf
Either add Linden.pdf to the end of that last link or go here:
http://tinyurl.com/2m3juf
Carole,
I'm glad to see that eight car trains are going to run on the brown line early, but they should have originally been scheduled to start running in June 2008 with the normal reopening of Diversy and the closing of Wellington. That would mean that longer trains are only running three months early
This can mean really a couple things.
1. 8 car trains were always planned by July 2008 and saying 18 months is just a nice PR move.
2. Nobody at CTA had the insight to realize that 8 car trains can start as early as this summer
I'm glad to see it starting early, but assuming #2, the management is still lacking forward thinking
John T.
1. I am aware that the purple line could stop at the Sheridan station (in fact, it has during Cubs games). If you had bothered to read my post carefully you would have known that I was talking about stations at the northern end of the red line (which, like I said, would be more of a logical place to add a stop).
2. The purple line train is referred to as a "purple line express" on the automated announcements at every station. The last I looked, the word "express" was also used in the maps inside the trains. But, in any case, by arguing that it really is not an express train (even though you are wrong) you are making my point. If you have to debate whether or not the train is express it probably is a good sign that you should not be adding any stops.
3. "It even stops at Diversey/Wellington when it "could" express past those stations on a different track"
What the heck are you talking about? How in the world could it run express past those stations on a different track. Are you referring to the red line tracks? How could it use those tracks when red line trains are using them? It would get delayed by red line trains and also delay red line trains behind it. And then when the train gets near Belmont (going North) or Fullerton (going south) it would almost certainly have to wait for a train or two to to leave the station. Not to mention that the train (or trains) that it passed would then get delayed to wait for it to depart Belmont of Fulleton. Are you nuts? Do you observe the way things work at all?
The purple line express is actually referred to as the "purple line express." Those of us who use it, rather than just theorizing about it, know that.
Also, yeah red line trains are crowded, but running 8 car brown line trains is the main way to alleviate that from Belmont southward (where the brown line and purple line are identical).
Having a purple line train stop at Sheridan once every 15 minutes is a trivial change that isn't going to make any detectable difference in red line usage. What it will succeed in doing is making Metra a marginally more attractive option for people living in Evanston, since it won't make 1000 stops.
And the switches at Belmont and Fullerton work just fine. There's no reason the purple line can't run express from Belmont to Fullerton and then resume following the brown line route to the Loop.
The 8-car Brown Line trains won't do anything to add capacity to pick-up stranded riders waiting at Sheridan and Addison if they can't get on packed Red Line trains to Belmont.
Be sure to wave at them as you pass them by on your half-empty "express" train. I'm sure they'll understand.
Poor Evanston people. It might get so bad they will have to ride...god-forbid...Metra.
Be sure to wave at them as you pass them by on your half-empty "express" train. I'm sure they'll understand.
When is the Purple Line ever half-empty during the rush? Whenever I use it going in the peak direction, the train is just as packed as the Brown Line, sometimes worse. Even when I used to take it regularly to reverse commute, it was an iffy proposition to find a seat, and this was before three-track.
Am I the only one that consistently pulls into Belmont on a completely packed Brown Line and sees a Red Line pull up for the transfer with literally no one standing, and some open seats? When is this Red Line so crowded? I never see it.
Perhaps the Red Line is awful for about 20 minutes, but the Brown Line is standing room only from 7-10am and 4:30-8:00pm
Anon 9:09am:
"Poor Evanston people" is missing the point. The *CTA* benefits by having higher ridership, and that's what will lessen the need to increase fares in the coming years as the farebox recovery requirements gradually get more stringent again.
So doing things that drive riders out of the CTA system altogether is bad for all CTA riders, because in the long run it means higher fares (or less service) for the people who are left.
And yeah, I am frequently at Belmont during rush hour, and I have to say I haven't seen all these red line trains that can't be boarded. There are a few that are pretty full, but so long as you can get on then so what? It's rush hour - the notion that everybody should get a seat is just not a realistic goal for a rush hour train.
Anon 4:38pm,
Having the purple line use the red line tracks between Belmont and Fullerton (in order to run express) isn't particularly difficult or any more delay-prone than having it use the brown line tracks. Either way, the southbound purple line has to merge onto the tracks of one of the other two lines, and so either way it will occasionally delay another train or get delayed by another train.
I suppose having it run on the red line tracks could impose additional potential delays northbound, since currently it doesn't have to switch tracks in this direction. But the switches were upgraded recently, and the purple line runs relatively infrequently, so the chances that this is going to add significant delay seem pretty slim.
Of course, while three-tracking is in effect, that may affect all of the above, but at least in the long run, a more express-y purple line seems eminently feasible.
And once the brown line's capacity is expanded 33%, the justification for having the purple line make every stop south of Belmont would seem to be weaker.
I've heard, and I don't know if this is true, that the purple used to go through the tunnels with the red line.
The real solution (and a way to increase ridership and eliminate some of the lakefront bus service, freeing them for underserved areas) would be to add a NYC style system at rush house on the northern half of the red line with one or two express stops to pick up riders, say at Bryn Mawr and Wilson.
Carole,
How will service at Southport will resume three months ahead of time? The station closed on April 1 of last year and posted signs indicated construction would take up to 12 months. It looks like the plan is to open it exactly a year later. Am I wrong on this?
Anon 1:04PM, re: Southport
Southport closed on April 2, 2007 and will open on March 30, 2008 so that is only a few days ahead of schedule. Diversey closed on June 25, 2007 and will open with the temporary station on March 30, 2008, just short of 3 months early.
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