Jump to content

CTA Rail Service Alerts


sw4400

Recommended Posts

6/27/13 11:26p

Upcoming Alert for 6/29/13 @ 6a until 1p

Rail Line(s) Affected: Red

Service Interruption Severity: Howard-bound trains will stop at their normal platform at Sheridan, but board/exit trains on the outer tracks instead of the inner tracks.

This is due to structural maintenance to ensure that trains continue to operate safely along the Red Line.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6/29/13 10:45a

Rail Line(s) Affected: Brown

Service Interruption Severity: Significant Delays w/ Reroute between Merchandise Mart and the Loop due to an extended Bridge Lift. Raising and lowering the Wells St. Bridge might take longer while construction continues as part of the CDOT's Bridge Renewal Project.

Alternate Service: Shuttle Buses are available as an alternate to rail service.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6/27/13 11:11p

Upcoming Alert for 6/28/13 @ 10p until 7/1/13 @ 4a

Rail Line(s) Affected: Brown, Orange, Pink

Service Interruption Severity: Planned Work w/Partial Closure of the Loop Elevated.

Brown and Orange Lines: Trains will operate as one route, between Kimball and Midway, running in both directions via the Lake and Wabash sides of the Loop Elevated. Transfers to/from the Blue Line Subway may be made at Clark/Lake and to/from the Red Line Subway at State/Lake* or Roosevelt.

Pink Line: Trains will begin/end their trips at Roosevelt station, running in both directions via the Lake and Wabash sides of the Loop Elevated. Transfers to/from the Blue Line Subway may be made at Clark/Lake and to/from the Red Line Subway at State/Lake* or Roosevelt.

Green Line trains are not affected and will operate on their normal route in both directions via Lake and Wabash.

*=Farecard required for transfer at these stations.

This is due to track improvements to prevent slow zones and improve rail service on the Loop Elevated.

6/29/13 10:45a

Rail Line(s) Affected: Brown

Service Interruption Severity: Significant Delays w/ Reroute between Merchandise Mart and the Loop due to an extended Bridge Lift. Raising and lowering the Wells St. Bridge might take longer while construction continues as part of the CDOT's Bridge Renewal Project.

Alternate Service: Shuttle Buses are available as an alternate to rail service.

So does this mean the Brownge route is cancelled for the weekend or are they turning both lines back until after the bridge lift is complete?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So does this mean the Brownge route is cancelled for the weekend or are they turning both lines back until after the bridge lift is complete?

They labeled the alert as Brown only, so my guess is the Brownage officially begins after the Wells St. Bridge. So temporarily the Brown and Orange Lines are separated until the bridge is lowered.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting note this afternoon...

I entered the Southport Brown Line station to take a Kimball-bound train, and noticed the train tracker on the Loop-bound side said the next train due in 5 minutes was going to Roosevelt. This was after 1:30p, so there was no Bridge Alert in effect that I know of at that time, but are Brown Line trains running through the State St. Subway to Roosevelt as well?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting note this afternoon...

I entered the Southport Brown Line station to take a Kimball-bound train, and noticed the train tracker on the Loop-bound side said the next train due in 5 minutes was going to Roosevelt. This was after 1:30p, so there was no Bridge Alert in effect that I know of at that time, but are Brown Line trains running through the State St. Subway to Roosevelt as well?

If you notice, it says "Roosevelt, Midway", not just Roosevelt. So it is going to "Midway's Roosevelt" which is up on the elevated, and then it is going on to "Midway." I guess this is to inform passengers from Kimball to the Mart that the train will not follow its typical route around the Loop but go to Roosevelt/Midway on the elevated and then go on to Midway. Seems simple...ya just gotta think like a CTA programmer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6/30/13 7:45p

Rail Line(s) Affected: Red, Purple, Yellow

Service Interruption Severity: Minor Delays due to an earlier medical emergency on the tracks at Howard. Service is being restored currently...

Man dies after falling on third rail makes this another of the extremely tasteless "medical emergency" ones, especially since it says it was on the tracks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's not tasteless, by any means. "We done zapped somebody and killed him" would be tasteless.

There's no need to let everybody on the system, including visitors from all over the world, know that someone just died up the line. "Medical emergency" is technically correct, and eliminates the need for people to become overly worried about what's going on, including sensitive parents who don't want to have to explain to their kids who might be listening to the announcements, about how someone died, or other folks who frankly would rather not have to think about it.

Those in the know already can suspect what happened, and know how to find out nonetheless. The rest, why do they need to know?

And CTA is definitely not the only agency to use more mild-sounding euphemisms for this kind of situation.

One agency some decades ago opened a new rail system, and had a few suicides of that sort, and discovered that by broadcasting what was going on, they actually encouraged copycat suicides. Once they stopped broadcasting what was going on (and got the media to cooperate), the number of incidents went way down.

  • Upvote 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's not tasteless, by any means. "We done zapped somebody and killed him" would be tasteless.

There's no need to let everybody on the system, including visitors from all over the world, know that someone just died up the line. "Medical emergency" is technically correct, and eliminates the need for people to become overly worried about what's going on, including sensitive parents who don't want to have to explain to their kids who might be listening to the announcements, about how someone died, or other folks who frankly would rather not have to think about it.

Those in the know already can suspect what happened, and know how to find out nonetheless. The rest, why do they need to know?

And CTA is definitely not the only agency to use more mild-sounding euphemisms for this kind of situation.

One agency some decades ago opened a new rail system, and had a few suicides of that sort, and discovered that by broadcasting what was going on, they actually encouraged copycat suicides. Once they stopped broadcasting what was going on (and got the media to cooperate), the number of incidents went way down.

In this case, I wasn't referring to CTA, but someone thinking that there was a purpose to archiving some, but not all of these alerts. I think he is being tasteless, but I communicated that with him before. I don't see any point to archiving any of these.

I guess I had to clarify an ambiguity in my prior post, which I did.

Of course, Metra has inspired copycats.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

In this case, I wasn't referring to CTA, but someone thinking that there was a purpose to archiving some, but not all of these alerts. I think he is being tasteless, but I communicated that with him before. I don't see any point to archiving any of these.

I guess I had to clarify an ambiguity in my prior post, which I did.

Of course, Metra has inspired copycats.

And even in that area I think you're being overly sensitive as even if his posting rail alerts at all may be debatable since CTA's own alerts are accessible through the internet on any PC or internet accessible cellphone, he's giving said alerts almost verbatim to what they are on CTA's site. So yeah of course you're going to cross into the lingo they use. I don't think anyone is necessarily looking to see him say 'well someone fell on the tracks today and that third rail zapped and killed him". And that's if he's even anymore in the know than any of the rest of us outside of the situation. For all we know he's reposting an alert he saw from CTA not knowing that someone died on the rails was the referenced medical emergency.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've witnessed a smoldering skinless body on CTA tracks near Lawrence before. The lady who saw the man jump in front of the train I was riding was very distraught. I still remember the burning smell, then I saw the body as I was sitting in the last seat of a 2000 series car.

Its always good to know when something happens that could affect your commute. Most people don't go to the CTA website looking for alerts on a regular basis. If it is major enough, they make announcements at rail stations. While I rarely use CTA's website, I am on here regularly, so I appreciate sw's posts. Of course if anything happens while I'm on the system, I'll post also.

  • Upvote 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7/5/13 11:24a

Upcoming Alert for 7/6/13 @ 7a until 7p

Rail Line(s) Affected: Purple

Service Interruption Severity: Minor Delays expected due to track maintenance between Dempster and Howard.

  • Sat 7a-7p: Board/Exit all trains on the Linden-bound platform at the Main station and the South Boulevard station.

This is to ensure trains continue to operate safely on the Purple Line

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7/5/13 11:29a

Upcoming Alert for 7/7/13 @ 7a until 7/8/13 @ 4a

Rail Line(s) Affected: Purple

Service Interruption Severity: Minor Delays expected due to track maintenance between Dempster and Howard.

  • Sun 7a-Mon 4a: Board/Exit all trains on the Howard-bound platform at the South Boulevard station and the Main station.

This is to ensure trains continue to operate safely on the Purple Line

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7/7/13 7:13a

Rail Line(s) Affected: Orange

Service Interruption Severity. Trains are operating with Normal Service. However, due to a technical problem affecting the Train Tracker program for this line, some central stations may show as "Unavailable" or "Delayed" when checking data. Technicians are working to correct the issue...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you want the other perspective on "medical emergency," the home page had this link to the Tribune.

The poor guy's parents have a point about the CTA needing to do something extra for precautions during these big summer events that result in these extra huge crowds on the platforms. Current fire codes make it illegal to have more than a set number of people inside any one section of public buildings or businesses so you'd think there would be a similar restriction on a CTA rail platform for the very reason of the tight space of the platform makes for the condition that brought on this young man falling onto the tracks and coming getting electrocuted by the third rail.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The poor guy's parents have a point about the CTA needing to do something extra for precautions during these big summer events that result in these extra huge crowds on the platforms. Current fire codes make it illegal to have more than a set number of people inside any one section of public buildings or businesses so you'd think there would be a similar restriction on a CTA rail platform for the very reason of the tight space of the platform makes for the condition that brought on this young man falling onto the tracks and coming getting electrocuted by the third rail.

I suppose one could restrict the number going through the turnstiles. but from where the family lives, it appears that a whole lot of people just got off the Red Line to transfer to the Purple or Yellow Line. So, unless CTA decided to continue the Red Line train to Linden, the crowd was going to form on the platform.

Of course, this family could have taken Metra and then the bus across from Grayland.

The other thing that always concerns me is the number of stairways and other obstructions on the platform that narrow passage, again especially if the Yellow Line loads only on the south end of the platform but the Red Line dumped you off on the north end.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The poor guy's parents have a point about the CTA needing to do something extra for precautions during these big summer events that result in these extra huge crowds on the platforms. Current fire codes make it illegal to have more than a set number of people inside any one section of public buildings or businesses so you'd think there would be a similar restriction on a CTA rail platform for the very reason of the tight space of the platform makes for the condition that brought on this young man falling onto the tracks and coming getting electrocuted by the third rail.

A lot of transit systems around the world have platform screen doors to minimize such accidents, as well as preventing unauthorized persons from wandering the right-of-way. When I was traveling in Hong Kong several years ago the MTR there was finishing up a massive project of installing platform screen doors at all of its stations. I would certainly agree that they prevent people from falling onto tracks as there are some very crowded stations in that city, regardless of time of day.

As much as I endorse the idea, someone's gotta foot the bill, and it probably won't be happening anytime soon.

  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

A lot of transit systems around the world have platform screen doors to minimize such accidents, as well as preventing unauthorized persons from wandering the right-of-way. When I was traveling in Hong Kong several years ago the MTR there was finishing up a massive project of installing platform screen doors at all of its stations. I would certainly agree that they prevent people from falling onto tracks as there are some very crowded stations in that city, regardless of time of day.

As much as I endorse the idea, someone's gotta foot the bill, and it probably won't be happening anytime soon.

Yes with everyone crying broke, from the federal government to Illinois government to Cook Cook and so on down to the CTA, we're not going to see the screen doors you mentioned in use on other transit systems any time soon. This is why I don't use any of the rail lines on days that some big event is occurring that will draw heavier than normal crowds to the rail platforms. They're just filled with obstructions and flaws that make the already woefully limited space more treacherous to navigate.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7/12/13 10:40p

Upcoming Alert for 7/13/13 @ 2a until 7/22/13 @ 4a

Rail Line(s) Affected: Brown

Service Interruption Severity: Service Suspended between Kimball and Kedzie due to a track project. Trains will operate between Kedzie and the Loop Elevated.

Alternate Service: #82 Kimball/Homan buses will be rerouted to connect with the Kedzie station. Buses will make the following stops:

Northbound #82:

  • Montrose/Spaulding(Existing #78 stop)
  • Kedzie/Montrose(Northeast Corner)
  • Kedzie/Eastwood(Northeast Corner-Transfer to Brown Line)
  • Lawrence/Kedzie(Northwest Corner)
  • Lawrence/Spaulding(Northeast Corner-Existing #81 stop)
  • Lawrence/Kimball(Northeast Corner-Existing #81 stop)

Southbound #82:

  • Lawrence/Kimball(Southeast Corner-Existing #81 stop)
  • Lawrence/Spaulding(Southwest Corner-Existing #81 stop)
  • Lawrence/Kedzie(Southwest Corner-Existing #81 stop)
  • Kedzie/Leland(Southwest Corner-Transfer To Brown Line)
  • Kedzie/Montrose(Northwest Corner)
  • Montrose/Spaulding(Northeast Corner-Existing #78 stop)
  • Kimball/Montrose(Southwest Corner)

Customers may enter Kedzie station through the accessible main entrance on Kedzie Avenue or through the auxillary entrance on Spaulding Avenue, one block west of Kedzie Avenue(Farecard required).

This is due to track improvement construction to ensure that trains continue to operate safely on the Brown Line.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7/13/13 10:55a

Upcoming Alert for 7/14/13 @ 7a until 7/15/13 @ 4a

Rail Line(s) Affected: Purple

Service Interruption Severity: Minor Delays expected due to track maintenance between Foster and Main.

Board/Exit all trains on the Linden-bound platform at the Davis and Dempster stations.

This is to ensure trains continue to operate safely on the Purple Line.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7/19/13 11:10a

Upcoming Alert for 7/20/13 @ 7a until 7p

Rail Line(s) Affected: Purple

Service Interruption Severity: Minor Delays expected due to track maintenance between Howard and Dempster.

Board/exit all trains on the Howard-bound side of the platform at the South Blvd and Main stations.

This is to ensure that trains continue to operate safely on the Purple Line.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7/20/13 1:14a

Upcoming Alert for 7/20/13 @ 12p until 8p

Rail Line(s) Affected: Red

Service Interruption Severity: Ashland/63rd-bound trains will stop at their normal platform, but board on the outer tracks instead of the inner tracks at Sheridan.

Red Line trains will operate on tracks normally used by Purple Line Express trains between Wilson and Addison.

This is due to structural maintenance to ensure that trains continue to operate safely on the Red Line.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...