Red & Purple Modernization Project (RPM)

[MTRSP1900-CTA3200]

11 hours ago, jajuan said:

The video makes it quite clear that all ant of us need do these past few weeks is take a ride on the Red Line (or Purple Line Express if it were a weekday during rush hour), and we'd clearly see that they were close to making the switchover. It's especially been obvious since last month, when the new tracks at the transition from old to new structure became visible from passing trains, and late last month when platform structures for the new temporary Bryn Mawr SB only station and Foster-Winona station popped up and the outlines of the temporary station houses were erected.

I actually walked on the transition section while working out of Howard last Sunday. Aside from working on the Phase B temporary stations, it looks like all they need to do is clean up the work equipment and energize the third rails and then they can at least run test trains before switching over.

[Busjack]

CTA Press Release that Stage B starts July 28.

[TaylorTank1229]

CTA’s Red and Purple Modernization (RPM) Phase One Project Final Major Stage, Stage B, to Begin July 28, 2023

•New temporary Stage B stations for Bryn Mawr (SB) and Argyle (Foster/Winona) will open while construction on the new SB tracks is in progress until 2025.
•CTA bus route #84 & #92 will be rerouted to accommodate passengers for the next construction stage. (#84 will serve both the new SB-only Bryn Mawr station & Thorndale Red Line station for both NB & SB Red Line access. #92 will no longer serve Bryn Mawr station, and will return to previous routing pre-Stage A with its eastbound terminus point ending/beginning trips at Berwyn/Broadway via Broadway-Berwyn-Sheridan-Foster. Buses will serve the Foster end of the new Stage B Argyle stations to connect with Red Line trains.

https://www.transitchicago.com/ctas-red-and-purple-modernization-rpm-phase-one-project-final-major-stage-stage-b-to-begin-july-28-2023/

[renardo870]

Here are some illustrations of the Phase 2 RPM operating on the new structure between Montrose Interlocking and Thorndale Interlocking starting Friday evening, July 28th, 2023 @2200 (10:00PM)

[Busjack]

ABC7 story announcing the opening of the new tracks.

[Kevin]

[artthouwill]

Today I had the pleasure of riding the Red Line north.  Even though Today is Saturday. I took a look at the flyover leaving Belmont.   I know Brown Line trains use the flyover but it appears that Purple Line Express trains still share the Red Line side of the NB platform even though there appears to be a track available for Purple Line trains use.   I saw that the NB Red Line trains switched to the outer track while SB Reds used the NB Red Line tracks until near Addison where our NB train switched over to its normal track.

After Wilson the new tracks were nice and smooth as we only stopped at Argyle and Thorndale.   From what I could see  they haven't begun tearing down the old structure yet for the old SB tracks yet.  The train seemed to run at normal speeds on the old structure north of Thorndale with the only slow speeds between Jarvis and Howard..

My only problem was the 20 minute wait I had downtown for the train

  The 95th bound trains were running at 12inute intervals and my NB train was packed.   I didn't want to wait another 14 minutes for the next NB train so I crammed my way on.

[jajuan]

I got to ride through the new section yesterday morning. And like @artthouwill, I found the ride very quick and smooth. The only slow parts the train ran into were the portion to the south of Wilson (I boarded NB at Sheridan) and a very brief slowdown just north of the Berwyn viaduct before picking back up again just before approaching and passing over the Bryn Mawr viaduct and then slowing again for the crossover back onto the inner track while pulling up to the Thorndale platform. As of yesterday, there still were no signs of any tracks removed. I will say though that you don't really get a feel for how much higher the new tracks are raised until you look down on the old embankment and see that the old tracks are lower by at least the height of one of CTA's rail cars. 

[strictures]

3 hours ago, jajuan said:

I got to ride through the new section yesterday morning. And like @artthouwill, I found the ride very quick and smooth. The only slow parts the train ran into were the portion to the south of Wilson (I boarded NB at Sheridan) and a very brief slowdown just north of the Berwyn viaduct before picking back up again just before approaching and passing over the Bryn Mawr viaduct and then slowing again for the crossover back onto the inner track while pulling up to the Thorndale platform. As of yesterday, there still were no signs of any tracks removed. I will say though that you don't really get a feel for how much higher the new tracks are raised until you look down on the old embankment and see that the old tracks are lower by at least the height of one of CTA's rail cars. 

I think the new section is maybe 3-4 feet higher, which would make it 15-16 feet clearance under it, more than enough for any trucks around, so no more collisions with the bridges.

[artthouwill]

42 minutes ago, strictures said:

I think the new section is maybe 3-4 feet higher, which would make it 15-16 feet clearance under it, more than enough for any trucks around, so no more collisions with the bridges.

I hadn't paid attention to the height  but I think raising the viaduct 2 ft would bring most viaduct up there to 13ft 8 inches or 14 ft, which is enough clearance for trucks and buses.  Right now the only viaduct with decent clearance north of Wilson are the Sheridan viaduct near Mundelein College and Loyola University .  When Phase 1 is completed that will help up to Bryn Mawr .

 

 

 

[Busjack]

12 hours ago, strictures said:

I think the new section is maybe 3-4 feet higher, which would make it 15-16 feet clearance under it, more than enough for any trucks around, so no more collisions with the bridges.

There is probab;y 14' of clearance, given the huge concrete beam between the columns and the track in the prefab concrete structure.

[jajuan]

14 hours ago, strictures said:

I think the new section is maybe 3-4 feet higher, which would make it 15-16 feet clearance under it, more than enough for any trucks around, so no more collisions with the bridges.

Yeah the overall clearance of the full structure from street surface to bottom of the structure is just a few feet higher. But I was speaking on the height of the track itself, which given how the full prefab structure is made looks to be raised higher than the original track height by close to the height of a railcar. 

[Tcmetro]

CTA is wasting no time with the west side demolition. Tracks almost entirely removed (all except a small section near Lawrence), Bryn Mawr SB station mostly gone, and some embankment removal north of Bryn Mawr.

The new tracks north of Belmont have been installed except at the south end near the station and the north end where it transitions to the old steel structure. My guess would be 2-3 more months for that to be completed.

[Busjack]

Sun-Times article that the "asia on argyle" sign  came down, although it is in CDOT's possession for possible redeployment. The pagoda was also removed.

[Busjack]

CTA release: CTA’s Red and Purple Modernization (RPM) Phase One Project’s Final Major Stage of North Belmont Red-Purple Reconstruction to Begin This Fall.

Brown Line will be interrupted Oct.  14-16

Red/Purple interrupted Oct. 27-30 and Nov. 10-13

 

[Busjack]

The 2024 Budget includes the RPM Next Phases Planning Study:  The segments are:

• Addison to Sheridan
• Thorndale to Howard
• Evanston Branch (Howard to Linden)

The study is expected to be finalized in 2024, which is the first of several
prescribed steps CTA must complete to secure funding for future project
work.

[Tcmetro]

Upcoming RPM Next Phases meetings:

 

RPM Next Phases Study – New Public Meetings Nov. 14 &16

Join CTA staff for virtual public meetings about the RPM Next Phases Planning Study to hear study updates about the future modernization of the Red and Purple lines. We are hosting one meeting focused on the Chicago project area, and one meeting focused on the Purple Line Evanston Branch. Similar information will be shared at both meetings.

Tuesday, November 14, 2023 | 6-7 p.m.

Focus: Chicago Project Area - Thorndale to Howard & Addison to Sheridan

Thursday, November 16, 2023 | 6-7 p.m.

Focus: Purple Line Evanston Branch - Howard to Linden

https://www.transitchicago.com/rpm/next-phases/

[busfan2847]

Does anyone know when the southbound red line trains moved to the new track 1 between Sheridan and Belmont? I caught a southbound train on 11/15 that went into Belmont on the furthest west-side track. Track 2 still had work trains on it and northbound trains were still using track 4 (the east-side track).

[Tcmetro]

I believe that happened Nov 13, but I might be wrong. Northbound trains should move over on Dec 4.

[busfan2847]

1 hour ago, Tcmetro said:

I believe that happened Nov 13, but I might be wrong. Northbound trains should move over on Dec 4.

Yes you are correct. I found the passenger notice after sending the question.

[dailycommuter62]

Presentation for future phases RPM, seems its a long term goal to run the red line with 10 cars trains with their focusing on stations that aren't compliant (the obvious Sheridan) but also a rehab of Howard and Addison.

[Busjack]

1 hour ago, dailycommuter62 said:

with their focusing on stations that aren't compliant (the obvious Sheridan) but also a rehab of Howard and Addison.

Thanks for posting this.

Addison is  now 30 years old, but the redo of Howard was 15 years ago. The impression I got from this presentation is that CTA went cheap in the 2008 rehab, which was indicated at the time by the up-over-and down accessible path because they didn't want to dig into the embankment. It probably would have been better then to have started from scratch, but CTA didn't. Only way I can see around it now is to build an elevated structure extending laterally over the bus terminal.

Evanston is an interesting case, in that the only modern station is Davis, and while some of the bridges (i.e. Church) are new, others (such as Davis) are crumbling. The presentation sort of glossed over that.

The discussion of Linden implies that they want to turn it back into a terminal (as opposed to an underused storage yard), but that may be necessary if they are planning for 8 car Purple Line trains.

This also makes clear why the about 120 of the "expansion cars" (apparently from the 7191-7400 group) would be needed (having before mentioned 84 for RLE).

[artthouwill]

1 hour ago, dailycommuter62 said:

Presentation for future phases RPM, seems its a long term goal to run the red line with 10 cars trains with their focusing on stations that aren't compliant (the obvious Sheridan) but also a rehab of Howard and Addison.

10 car trains?  First, yhe majority of Red line stations would have to be extended.   All of the south side stations and all stations north of Lake seem to accommodate only 8 cars. I would guess that the RLE stations will be built to 10 car stations?

The only 10 car stations i know of are the Forest Park Blue Line Branch stations from Harlem to UIC Halsted ( excluding the closed stations) and LaSalle/Van Buren, Adams/ Wabash,  and State/Lake.  O'Hare can also berth 10 car trains along with Logan Square 

 

[Busjack]

56 minutes ago, artthouwill said:

10 car trains?  First, yhe majority of Red line stations would have to be extended.   All of the south side stations and all stations north of Lake seem to accommodate only 8 cars. I would guess that the RLE stations will be built to 10 car stations?

The only 10 car stations i know of are the Forest Park Blue Line Branch stations from Harlem to UIC Halsted ( excluding the closed stations) and LaSalle/Van Buren, Adams/ Wabash,  and State/Lake.  O'Hare can also berth 10 car trains along with Logan Square 

 

When CTA  was rebuilding Fullerton and Belmont on the Red Line, they said the new stations would be built to the 10 Red/8 Brown-Purple standard. I don't know if anything else on the Red Line conforms to that (I suppose, but don't know if rebuilt 95th does).

[joechicago]

12 hours ago, artthouwill said:

10 car trains?  First, yhe majority of Red line stations would have to be extended.   All of the south side stations and all stations north of Lake seem to accommodate only 8 cars. I would guess that the RLE stations will be built to 10 car stations?

The only 10 car stations i know of are the Forest Park Blue Line Branch stations from Harlem to UIC Halsted ( excluding the closed stations) and LaSalle/Van Buren, Adams/ Wabash,  and State/Lake.  O'Hare can also berth 10 car trains along with Logan Square 

 

Also would present an issue in the loop if the trains ever have to go over the top.