Red & Purple Modernization Project (RPM)

[Busjack]

CTA Press Release that Tracks 1 and 2 are in service between Addison and Belmont, and work shifts to Tracks 3 and 4.

[Busjack]

53 minutes ago, Tcmetro said:

Off topic, but CTA said in the Next Phases meeting that they won't relocate the Sheridan station. More info on the design sometime this year.

As you stated, no design yet, but the Next Phases study is here. The slides on Sheridan include:

IIRC, CTA said about as much work would be needed in this area as is being done in the area around Cornelia.

[Busjack]

Passenger Alerts that northbound Red Line trains won't stop from Thorndale through Jarvis  the weekends of April 12 and April 19 for track and signal work related to RPM.

[Elkmn]

When the rpm rebuild is finished, will the purple line always run to the loop? It seems strange to rebuild all 4 tracks and leave 2 tracks just for rush hour service, and the ns main needs all the trains it can get. 

[Sam92]

9 minutes ago, Elkmn said:

When the rpm rebuild is finished, will the purple line always run to the loop? It seems strange to rebuild all 4 tracks and leave 2 tracks just for rush hour service, and the ns main needs all the trains it can get. 

No official plans just yet. There's speculation that purple should be moved to the subway to keep it as a limited stop compared to following the brown line which would allow them to cut back on excess trains to the Dan Ryan in the rush. It could also work in the off peak because the Dan Ryan is using headways based on the Howard branch and doesn't get as full in the off peak. 

[artthouwill]

2 hours ago, Sam92 said:

No official plans just yet. There's speculation that purple should be moved to the subway to keep it as a limited stop compared to following the brown line which would allow them to cut back on excess trains to the Dan Ryan in the rush. It could also work in the off peak because the Dan Ryan is using headways based on the Howard branch and doesn't get as full in the off peak. 

The question becomes what to do with the Purple Line after Roosevelt?  Do they thru route to the SSM to AshlandorCottageGrove??  Do they short turn at 37th Middle ( SSM) or 63rd Middle ( Red Line)?  Or does it just continue clockwise through the Loop. 

[Sam92]

1 hour ago, artthouwill said:

The question becomes what to do with the Purple Line after Roosevelt?  Do they thru route to the SSM to AshlandorCottageGrove??  Do they short turn at 37th Middle ( SSM) or 63rd Middle ( Red Line)?  Or does it just continue clockwise through the Loop. 

Terminate at 35th Bronzeville-IIT and use 37th middle? Would be a bonus to any north siders that work in the south loop/motor row area and any north siders that happen to go to IIT would also have a more direct connection as a result. 

[Elkmn]

The space for a 3rd track on the ssm still exists, so trains could turn around as early as 18th, but having extra trains to IIT is beneficial (it'd be great if they could go to 43rd for the TOD thing). Speaking of the south side main, did anyone hear about the dog in the 61st yards? They saw her yesterday on the snowflake special and scott cook came to rescue her.

[artthouwill]

To me, the two most interesting station rebuilds will be Loyola and Sheridan.   Will Loyola have two platforms to accommodate Purple Line Express trains stopping there?  Will Sheridan keep two platforms or would it be better to have one island platform and let Purple Line trains bypass it?  Remember Wilson is the next station north and it has dual platforms with Purple Line Express trains stopping there. This might be important if  CTA wants to consider rerouting Purple Line trains through the subway.  Even without a reroute, it's worth considering. 

[Busjack]

6 minutes ago, artthouwill said:

To me, the two most interesting station rebuilds will be Loyola and Sheridan.   Will Loyola have two platforms to accommodate Purple Line Express trains stopping there?  Will Sheridan keep two platforms or would it be better to have one island platform and let Purple Line trains bypass it?  Remember Wilson is the next station north and it has dual platforms with Purple Line Express trains stopping there. This might be important if  CTA wants to consider rerouting Purple Line trains through the subway.  Even without a reroute, it's worth considering. 

If you read the presentation, the tentative answer to 1 is yes and 2 (alternative a) is no.

[Sam92]

7 hours ago, artthouwill said:

To me, the two most interesting station rebuilds will be Loyola and Sheridan.   Will Loyola have two platforms to accommodate Purple Line Express trains stopping there?  Will Sheridan keep two platforms or would it be better to have one island platform and let Purple Line trains bypass it?  Remember Wilson is the next station north and it has dual platforms with Purple Line Express trains stopping there. This might be important if  CTA wants to consider rerouting Purple Line trains through the subway.  Even without a reroute, it's worth considering. 

 

6 hours ago, Busjack said:

If you read the presentation, the tentative answer to 1 is yes and 2 (alternative a) is no.

I looked in the archives all I found was the modernization option which doesn't specify that Loyola is getting a transfer station. The only option that mentioned a Loyola transfer was the basic rebuild (minimal repairs). Might have to look at what phase 3* mentions because this is from when they were considering station consolidation as well (which received protests). Also mentions suggestions/requess to make purple line all day at half hourly headways, nothing about moving purple into the subway.** 

*Phase 2 I think handles Addison to Wilson 

** CTA mentions in a capacity report that alleviating Loop capacity problems can be done by moving a line into either State or Dearborn subways so at some point moves might be made to accomplish that with Purple. 

[Busjack]

a

2 hours ago, Sam92 said:

 

I looked in the archives all I found was the modernization option which doesn't specify that Loyola is getting a transfer station. The only option that mentioned a Loyola transfer was the basic rebuild (minimal repairs). Might have to look at what phase 3* mentions because this is from when they were considering station consolidation as well (which received protests). Also mentions suggestions/requess to make purple line all day at half hourly headways, nothing about moving purple into the subway.** 

*Phase 2 I think handles Addison to Wilson 

** CTA mentions in a capacity report that alleviating Loop capacity problems can be done by moving a line into either State or Dearborn subways so at some point moves might be made to accomplish that with Purple. 

I was referring to the Next Phases Presentation Deck, and the Evanston Zoom Recording. The slides I copied above covered Sheridan. The following cover Loyola:

As I indicated, the first objective is to establish a transfer station. Honestly,I don't know how they achieve the second and third, unless they move the station to Winthrop, but I don't think that will happen.

As noted in the Sheridan slide, the objective is a single, center, 10-car platform.

Around here in the Zoom, they talked in generalities about studying service improvements and concepts, the questions being about all day Purple Line Express and transfer stations.

[Sam92]

15 hours ago, Busjack said:

a

I was referring to the Next Phases Presentation Deck, and the Evanston Zoom Recording. The slides I copied above covered Sheridan. The following cover Loyola:

As I indicated, the first objective is to establish a transfer station. Honestly,I don't know how they achieve the second and third, unless they move the station to Winthrop, but I don't think that will happen.

As noted in the Sheridan slide, the objective is a single, center, 10-car platform.

Around here in the Zoom, they talked in generalities about studying service improvements and concepts, the questions being about all day Purple Line Express and transfer stations.

Only way Any of this can be pulled off is by relocating the businesses along with possibly reconfiguring the Sheridan/Broadway/Devon intersection (getting rid of that WB right turn lane as well) so you can have enough space to both straighten the curves and have room to move the outer tracks out for space for double island platforms. What's interesting in the video is mentions of improving metra station access in Evanston. Is there a lot of transfer activity up there/people wanting to go directly to the Loop vs ending up near the west loop?

[Busjack]

1 hour ago, Sam92 said:

What's interesting in the video is mentions of improving metra station access in Evanston. Is there a lot of transfer activity up there/people wanting to go directly to the Loop vs ending up near the west loop?

Metra doesn't seem to have per station data, other than a 2018 survey on RTAMS. Main St/ Evanston showed a daily trend of 1130.  Davis looks like about 1700. On the other hand, CTA data is for Oct 2023, and indicates 592 for Main and 1711 for Davis for weekdays. However, before the "Covid Cliff," Main was running around 1300 and Davis 3700.

People in Evanston are going to ask what they are going to ask, but I don't think the issue is who is going to transfer from the L to Metra to go to the Loop (need at least an add-on pass, but may be faster), but to the northern suburbs.

[jajuan]

Over the past month to maybe month and a half, I've been observing the progress of the SB rebuild of the portion between Thorndale and Argyle since that's mainly where I've been seeing the SB support beams in place so far. Now that they've progressed enough that there's enough structure to have a foundation and outline of where the platforms for the new Bryn Mawr and Berwyn stations will be, it's looking like both station platforms will sit a bit further north than the original station positions. It looks like the northernmost edge for Bryn Mawr station will be just south of Hollywood. If I remember correctly the north end of the original platform stopped about halfway between Bryn Mawr and Hollywood. The position of what will be the new ADA compliant elevator to the platform looks to be at where the back portion of the original station house was positioned. At Berwyn, the northernmost end of the new platform looks like it will start a long a line that's about parallel with the front face of the Jewel that's just to the west of the tracks. The original platform as I recall was near the hallway point of the Jewel parking lot.

[Tcmetro]

Yes, I believe an entrance is being added from Hollywood as well.

[Busjack]

2 hours ago, jajuan said:

where the platforms for the new Bryn Mawr and Berwyn stations will be, it's looking like both station platforms will sit a bit further north than the original station positions.

 

1 hour ago, Tcmetro said:

Yes, I believe an entrance is being added from Hollywood as well.

I thought that they said something about Argyle having a Foster entrance (maybe that was temporary), and, in any event, the platforms need to meet the 10-car standard and have room for an elevator.

[Elkmn]

Are they still going to build lawrence? It's surprising that all 4 of the stations in phase one got over 1000 daily tap ins in 2019, but that's why the purple line express still exists i guess.

[Busjack]

2 hours ago, Elkmn said:

Are they still going to build lawrence? It's surprising that all 4 of the stations in phase one got over 1000 daily tap ins in 2019, but that's why the purple line express still exists i guess.

All 4 stations are to be rebuilt.*

The Purple Line Express doesn't really have much to do with it one way or the other, because it doesn't stop in that zone. It only started stopping at Wilson when it was rebuilt. I suppose the Purple Line Express will get more business when the bottleneck ends and the planned transfer station at Loyola is built.

Actually, on a weekday average basis, the stations did 3 to 4 times better than you said. Argyle surprises me, because it is like a 2-block long street without a cross-town bus, and 2 blocks from Lawrence. From the 2019 Annual Ridership Report:

 

_____________

*A political surmise: A very preliminary plan had stations every 4 blocks, but Ald. Joe Moore organized a protest over "they're going to close the Jarvis station," so it was easier just to rebuild in place.

 

[busfan2847]

19 hours ago, Busjack said:

 

I thought that they said something about Argyle having a Foster entrance (maybe that was temporary), and, in any event, the platforms need to meet the 10-car standard and have room for an elevator.

The temporary Argyle station, which is built above the Winona middle track, has entrances on Winona and Foster. The new Argyle station will be built south of the three track Winona Middle section and will be centered on Argyle.

[jajuan]

21 hours ago, Busjack said:

 

I thought that they said something about Argyle having a Foster entrance (maybe that was temporary), and, in any event, the platforms need to meet the 10-car standard and have room for an elevator.

So far I haven't seen any initial foundations for the elevator that will be at Berwyn, but the 10-car standard does in part explain the shift in platform positions. 

[Tcmetro]

CTA is planning for the space under the RPM to become a path with some additional park functions. 

Block by block plans with the press release: 

https://www.transitchicago.com/nature-play-areas-community-plazas-and-outdoor-fitness-spots-cta-reveals-community-driven-development-plans-for-under-l-tracks-in-edgewater-uptown-as-part-of-red-and-purple-modernization-rpm-phase-one-project/