Dearborn Subway Slow Zones are Back!

[westing]

I thought it would be years before another slow zone popped up in the Dearborn Subway. According to the most recent slow zone map, 1,503 feet have been added in between Grand and Chicago. Sometime early this year, after construction had completed, a small section popped up right before Grand. I didn't think much of it then but now its huge again!

Out of all the times I used that station, I never paid attention to the ties westward. Were the ties replaced between Chicago and Grand? I know some of the ties inside Grand the station were not replaced and are nearly finished.

It seems the Blue Line subway reconstruction was not as complete compared to the Red line. This will probably hinder any attempts the CTA had for rebuilding rider confidence.

[2200fan]

I thought it would be years before another slow zone popped up in the Dearborn Subway. According to the most recent slow zone map, 1,503 feet have been added in between Grand and Chicago. Sometime early this year, after construction had completed, a small section popped up right before Grand. I didn't think much of it then but now its huge again!

Out of all the times I used that station, I never paid attention to the ties westward. Were the ties replaced between Chicago and Grand? I know some of the ties inside Grand the station were not replaced and are nearly finished.

It seems the Blue Line subway reconstruction was not as complete compared to the Red line. This will probably hinder any attempts the CTA had for rebuilding rider confidence.

Why are there still slow zones on the Kennedy section near O'Hare?

[jajuan]

Why are there still slow zones on the Kennedy section near O'Hare?

As far as the section between Chicago and Grand, I believe they only got to eliminate slow zones outbound while inbound still needed work, which would probably explain what seemed to be a reappearance of one when it was still there. As for on the Kennedy section, a lot of that slow zone work needed was apparently more extensive than that on the Red line as evidenced with the recent near three week suspension of the Blue line between O'Hare and Rosemont. Work that's more involved will take longer to complete. Not to get things confused, only the work between those two stations was completed. They never said the other Kennedy sections were done. Those are supposed to be done by year's end if I remember the statements correctly. The more important detail is that they're doing the work not just to improve speed but to improve rail safety. What inconveniences are still there now is worth the wait of the completion of the work.

[westing]

As far as the section between Chicago and Grand, I believe they only got to eliminate slow zones outbound while inbound still needed work, which would probably explain what seemed to be a reappearance of one when it was still there.

The April 25, 2007 map is the first map to show the slow zone inbound between Chicago and Grand to gone inbound. It remains slow zone free for roughly a year until a small slow zone appears before Grand in the April 15, 2008 map.

What I am wondering is what happened? The CTA advertises on posters that the Dearborn Subway is slow zone free but now a segment is back. I assume some work must have been completed prior to the April 25, 2007 removal that brought back faster speeds for one year (I hope). Either the work was not completed or something else occurred.

Hopefully this is not a sign of what is to occur in one years time in the Red Line subway... :mellow:

[jajuan]

The April 25, 2007 map is the first map to show the slow zone inbound between Chicago and Grand to gone inbound. It remains slow zone free for roughly a year until a small slow zone appears before Grand in the April 15, 2008 map.

What I am wondering is what happened? The CTA advertises on posters that the Dearborn Subway is slow zone free but now a segment is back. I assume some work must have been completed prior to the April 25, 2007 removal that brought back faster speeds for one year (I hope). Either the work was not completed or something else occurred.

Hopefully this is not a sign of what is to occur in one years time in the Red Line subway...

Would the maintenance and inspection changes that came after the CTA was ripped by the feds in the NTSB report on the Blue line derailment possibly have anything to do with it? From a safety standpoint, the rail maintenance crews had to do a complete 180 on how they were doing things. I'm not saying having a slow zone reappear is a good thing because it's not. However, while some may be quick to jump on the negative of a small section popping back up or some that may still be there a bit longer even though their set elimination date hasn't arrived, do we really want the old status quo from before the NTSB report? When it comes to my safety on my trains, I will sit through a slow zone or two while they fix the problem that a new inspection may find. At least they are finding the problems and fixing them when they likely would have glossed over them not too long ago. Let's keep that in mind before we jump to find negatives. We are speaking about infrastructure that's up to 100+ years in age after all that hasn't had proper funding to be in much better condition than it could be right now.

[BusHunter]

As far as the section between Chicago and Grand, I believe they only got to eliminate slow zones outbound while inbound still needed work, which would probably explain what seemed to be a reappearance of one when it was still there. As for on the Kennedy section, a lot of that slow zone work needed was apparently more extensive than that on the Red line as evidenced with the recent near three week suspension of the Blue line between O'Hare and Rosemont. Work that's more involved will take longer to complete. Not to get things confused, only the work between those two stations was completed. They never said the other Kennedy sections were done. Those are supposed to be done by year's end if I remember the statements correctly. The more important detail is that they're doing the work not just to improve speed but to improve rail safety. What inconveniences are still there now is worth the wait of the completion of the work.

one thing I've noticed by looking at the Dearborn Subway ties, not every single tie has been replaced. In places it's like every third tie that's the old original. I think that around Division it's like this. Now in the Red line subway, every tie seems to be replaced. On the Kennedy leg of the blue line things couldn't be better, the trains run at surprisingly fast speeds even toward the Addison stop starting last week. The new kennedy ties seem to be made of really hard materials (that's good so the elements don't settle in the ties themself) the trains almost sound as if they are on a trestle, there is no give in the ties whatsoever. I wonder why they didn't go with these in the subway. The whole welding of the rails on the kennedy with these ties gives it a nice feel. Something to rival the south sides orange line, built the same way, some of the best trackage on the system.