It's the one on the Rock Island. Metra hasn't shown any signs that they want to rebuild local stations on the Metra Electric, especially if the South Lakefront Corridor Study comes back with a recommendation for a CTA-ization of the local service. In that case, complete responsibility for rebuilding of the stations would fall on CTA.

A large part of it is a lack of organization in the communities along the Electric line. Auburn-Gresham Community Development Corp has been pushing hard for the Rock Island station for nearly 10 years now.

CBS Chicago: CTA Puts Yellow, Orange Extensions On Hold

Well, this just confirmed what we've all known for quite some time now... CTA will prioritize the Red Line projects over everything else.

It's a smart move, really... the Yellow Line was controversial and it's not like the residents of Ashburn and West Lawn are clamoring for more rail transit. Meanwhile, the south Red Line brings rail transit to a vast, dense, unserved swath of the city, and the north Red Line will improve conditions for hundreds of thousands of choice riders, as well as the city's densest areas.

Rendering of the Loyola CTA station renovation
http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/6658/picture2uxz.jpg

Is this going on the east or west side of Sheridan?

I love the bus shelter, but it doesn't fit with the red-brick Loyola-esque McDonalds.

^West side of Sheridan.

Ah. I was hoping it might replace the service drive for Fordham.

Still, this is a huge improvement over the crappy McDonalds/Brunos building that's there right now.

So is this all being developed by CTA (seeing as this is the transit thread)? If so, is there any talk it will actually happen in the next decade or so, or is the plan just vaporware right now?

^ Are you referring to the Loyola project? I believe Loyola itself is paying for that, as a component of the "Loyola Station" redevelopment. It doesn't look any more ambitious than the North/Clybourn renovation, which cost $4 million.

Presumably, the cost of station renovations will be defrayed by the rent that McDonalds is paying... a prime spot across from a college campus probably commands a high rent. Proceeds from The Morgan will probably be spent as well.

5000 order made
 

According to Bombardier, the CTA ordered the production of the 706 5000-series cars.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...11+HUG20110720

^^^ I read up a bit on those new cars. Apparently aisle facing seats? Like the ones in DC? Are they going to be quieter though, or is that more of a track issue? Also what lines will these be put on? I would imagine the top 3: red, blue, and brown.

^ I think they're mostly going to the Blue Line, which has the oldest cars in the system at the moment.

CTA has 1168 railcars in service. The total number of 5000s on order is 706, which means that over half of CTA's fleet will be replaced.

It's hard to say where the cars will be placed in service. The Blue Line is currently running the oldest, most failure-prone cars, so those will be taken out of service and probably replaced with 5000s. After that, the 2400s on the Purple and Green Lines need replacement, but CTA may shuffle some less-old 2600s or 3200s to those two lines, and place the new 5000s onto the Red/Brown Lines where the additional standing room is needed.

Apparently, since the new cars run with AC motors that accelerate differently than all of CTA's current DC fleet, they can't be mixed into trains with older cars. This will limit CTA's flexibility in introducing the new cars.

How many 3200 series railcars do they have? The break even point would be 462. If less than that, and all other older railcars are decommissioned, that would be a decrease in the total number of railcars.

^^ The 2600s will remain in service for the forseeable future, along with the 3200s. Since that means an overall increase in CTA's fleet, it gives CTA some wiggle room to change service patterns (either by increasing the train frequency or expanding the system) if money becomes available.

The next cycle track will go in on Jackson between Damen and Halsted, according to a CDOT press conference today. I'm assuming it will omit the block between Ashland and Laflin through the Jackson Boulevard historic district (Jackson along that block is too narrow).

I wish they would extend the cycle track to Desplaines St in order to preserve the "feeling of safety" across the Kennedy.

While I haven't heard of any final plans yet, one of the constraints with the 5000s is that apparently they're very finicky about having all their wheels balanced --- meaning that, at least in the near-term, upon delivery all the new cars should have easy access to a wheel truing machine (lathe) or operate on a line that doesn't rack up many car-miles per assigned railcar, on average. At the moment, I believe such wheel truing lathes are located only at Skokie Shops and 54th, with one being installed (or maybe recently installed, not sure) at Midway.

^^^ would the tracks be causing excessive wear?

^ Interesting. That means the 5000s will probably go to Red/Yellow/Purple, Pink, or Orange. My money's on Purple and Red, then... Emanuel and Claypool seem to be really pushing this "Your Red" initiative. Placing the new railcars there seems to jive with the extensive expansion/rehab projects.

Speaking of which, I noticed this in the corner of my eye on a placard at North/Clybourn today... CTA seems to be keeping it relatively quiet.

I'll be there. Can anybody else make it?

I will be there, and I am trying to get Sen. Martin Sandoval and Rep. Cynthia Soto to attend also -
to point out to them exactly how the $1.4 Billion RLE would extend and entrench CTA's wasteful competition with Metra.
(Part of the reason for the newest "Fare Increases and Service Cuts" Doomsday).

I will also be at their Hearing this coming Friday, can anyone else attend:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/site/n...,3067633.story