3200-series - Updates

[Johnny 5]

This one was at Damen on the Blue Line. It was stuck at that station for several minutes due to a mechanical issue at Division/Milwaukee which resulted in minor delays and with that, they had to partially cut the power off keeping the emergency lights, audio and LEDs active! 

1130181621.mp4

[artthouwill]

I saw an 8 car consist on the Brown Line featuring 6 3200s with 2611 and 2612. I guess the Brown Line didnt get te same memo as the Blue Line  about mixing 2600s with 3200s, even though those sets can couple together like they used to on the Orange Line. 

[BusHunter]

2 hours ago, artthouwill said:

I saw an 8 car consist on the Brown Line featuring 6 3200s with 2611 and 2612. I guess the Brown Line didnt get te same memo as the Blue Line  about mixing 2600s with 3200s, even though those sets can couple together like they used to on the Orange Line. 

Brown line always runs the 2600s as belly cars. Either the line supervisor there is really smart or they still need to train blue line crews and cannot do the belly car thing. They could almost do all trains 3200 ends if they tried this. Sucks though you wouldnt have all the led destination signs though. I wonder if anyone at cta has thought run 2600s as belly cars put digital signs on the sides of 2600s and never update the end signs. If it conflicted with the sign controller they could remove the older signs. 

[chicagocubs6323]

8 hours ago, BusHunter said:

put digital signs on the sides of 2600s and never update the end signs. 

Why not update the end signs, though? Might as well do that as well

[artthouwill]

8 hours ago, BusHunter said:

Brown line always runs the 2600s as belly cars. Either the line supervisor there is really smart or they still need to train blue line crews and cannot do the belly car thing. They could almost do all trains 3200 ends if they tried this. Sucks though you wouldnt have all the led destination signs though. I wonder if anyone at cta has thought run 2600s as belly cars put digital signs on the sides of 2600s and never update the end signs. If it conflicted with the sign controller they could remove the older signs. 

My point was that the Blue Line  could also run 2600s as belly cars as they did with the 2200s.  That way nearly every  train could have some 3200s.  However I guess straight 3200s gives an illusion of newer equipment on the line.  They look very similar to the 5000s.

[BusHunter]

2 hours ago, chicagocubs6323 said:

Why not update the end signs, though? Might as well do that as well

Saves money, you can cheat the budget. If for some reason a few 2600 trains got on the ends theres always paper signs. Cta is not shy about it, but I'd only do that if there was a sign conflict. They could always do the orange line thing and put a destination sticker. Just think if you had signs for 100 cars you could put them on 200 cars.

[BusHunter]

2 hours ago, artthouwill said:

My point was that the Blue Line  could also run 2600s as belly cars as they did with the 2200s.  That way nearly every  train could have some 3200s.  However I guess straight 3200s gives an illusion of newer equipment on the line.  They look very similar to the 5000s.

Yeah and some days I swear the blue line is about 50 to 60 percent 3200 cars. Its obvious the 2600s are resting somewhere. It's how it always should have been. How much money are they saving now? 100 years of former transit managers cant be wrong can they. Consolidation I fear was something generated by a computer program. This is the real world not a simulation. 

If I was running things though I would get the orange line some 3200s back. If they still ran brownages I'd make those solid 2600s consists. They did that with the 2400s. Theres a chance that most service on all 3 lines could maintain a 2600 belly system. It's not seamless but it works and with a few led signs you could make it the best of a bad situation. 

 

[Guest]

17 hours ago, artthouwill said:

I saw an 8 car consist on the Brown Line featuring 6 3200s with 2611 and 2612. I guess the Brown Line didnt get te same memo as the Blue Line  about mixing 2600s with 3200s, even though those sets can couple together like they used to on the Orange Line. 

I hope they keep the both series separate on the Blue!   I love seeing an 8 car set of 3200s!  Seeing the bright LEDs and destination signs saying "OHare" Makes me proud of the Blue line!  Im content we have the 3200s  I love that series! 

[chicagocubs6323]

Same here, I agree.  3200s and 2600s on the Blue should be separate.  Brown can do whatever they want

[YoungBusLover]

Riding the orange line a majority of my life I've seen just about everything on it except the 2200's and 5000's but I do question the durability of the 2600's that are left on the orange line at this point in time, some are beginning to show there age with bad heating,poor lighting and dare I say considerably slower travel times in non slow zones of the orange line. One train (usually I board the front car) I remember being on earlier this week seemed to struggle getting up the 18th street incline and the operator nearly came to a complete crawl of about 5 mph and she seemed a little baffled by it. Once we made it past the incline she could barely get the train to crack 30 mph with all that going on I see #1542 speed by heading southwest and I'm thinking to myself damn maybe taking the bus would of been the better option. 

[WCR]

Don't think anyone has posted this yet so I might as well. Rehabbed 3457-58, the infamous mis-match, on the brown line at Merchandise Mart with LEDs. Wonder how long it'll stick around after the rest of the 2600s are gone.

[Mr.NewFlyer1051]

1 hour ago, WCR said:

Don't think anyone has posted this yet so I might as well. Rehabbed 3457-58, the infamous mis-match, on the brown line at Merchandise Mart with LEDs. Wonder how long it'll stick around after the rest of the 2600s are gone.

They might as well rehab that whole car and keep it paired with 3457 the least CTA can do is keep at least 1 2600’s car in service still when the rest retire next year

[chicagocubs6323]

54 minutes ago, Mr.NewFlyer1051 said:

They might as well rehab that whole car and keep it paired with 3457 the least CTA can do is keep at least 1 2600’s car in service still when the rest retire next year

Hopefully they don't retire that pair cause that would be such a waste.  It literally has new equipment, new motors, HVAC, .etc

[RJL6000]

On 4/4/2014 at 12:08 AM, BusHunter said:

#3351-52 have also been in Skokie Shops yard area for the longest time. Probably not coming back, super long term hold.

#3351 is now part of a mismate with #3448, whose original #3447 mate was also damaged. #3435-3436 have since been repaired and returned to service.

[artthouwill]

7 minutes ago, Bus1883 said:

Shame, the 3200s were fully rehabbed about 5-7 years ago and there’s plans for a life extending overhaul of only 100 cars in 2026? When that time comes it’ll mark 8-10 years ago that they were rehabbed with completion in 2018. Gone on ahead and waste that money killing the 3200’s CTA

Moved here for relevancy. 

You have to take into account the base order of the 7000s should wipe out the 2600s and one option of the 7000s will retire over half of the 3200s, so rehabbing 100 us about accurate. 

[Busjack]

30 minutes ago, artthouwill said:

Moved here for relevancy. 

You have to take into account the base order of the 7000s should wipe out the 2600s and one option of the 7000s will retire over half of the 3200s, so rehabbing 100 us about accurate. 

To get a bit more technical:

Say CTA gets 14 cars a month, which would be 168 a year. The first 400 would be received in 2.4 years. That may be optimistic, given the production rate and that there are probably more than 400 2600s, but CTA probably will start chewing into 3200s by late 2025. So @artthouwill's conclusion is reasonable.

But given @Bus1883's assertion that the rehabs will only be 8-10 years old doesn't mean that 156 cars will need to be rehabbed by 2026; some may be serviceable, while others may need to be extended to 2029.

[garmon757]

Not sure anybody was aware but #3259-60 are currently assigned to Kimball. Expect more being assigned there as 2600s scrapping will begin its process in the spring coming up. 

[Bus1883]

1 hour ago, garmon757 said:

Not sure anybody was aware but #3259-60 are currently assigned to Kimball. Expect more being assigned there as 2600s scrapping will begin its process in the spring coming up. 

Could this mean the 3200s are slowly going back to brown and orange lines early soon enough? 

[artthouwill]

17 minutes ago, Bus1883 said:

Could this mean the 3200s are slowly going back to brown and orange lines early soon enough? 

Possibly but not necessarily.   There would probably need to be an uptick in 7000s going into service on the Blue Line first.   That could facilitate transfers from Blue to Brown or Orange to retire cars but cara leaving the Blue Line can be either 2600s or 3200s. Or both 

[Sam92]

12 hours ago, artthouwill said:

Possibly but not necessarily.   There would probably need to be an uptick in 7000s going into service on the Blue Line first.   That could facilitate transfers from Blue to Brown or Orange to retire cars but cara leaving the Blue Line can be either 2600s or 3200s. Or both 

 

13 hours ago, Bus1883 said:

Could this mean the 3200s are slowly going back to brown and orange lines early soon enough? 

I think they might focus on sending 3200s back to brown and orange since blue will be all 7000s. Only 50 3200s are needed to make brown all 3200s again and you can send the rest to orange which while knock out 2/3 of the 2600s there. Big question is what happens to the rest of the 2600s if only 190 cars are replaced? 

[Busjack]

27 minutes ago, Sam92 said:

 

I think they might focus on sending 3200s back to brown and orange since blue will be all 7000s. Only 50 3200s are needed to make brown all 3200s again and you can send the rest to orange which while knock out 2/3 of the 2600s there. Big question is what happens to the rest of the 2600s if only 190 cars are replaced? 

From my reading of the budget, I came to the opposite conclusion. 300 9000s are supposed to replace 2600s, and there are supposedly 490 2600s, so we get to the number of 190 2600s being replaced by 7000s. But that seems to mean a mixed fleet on the Blue Line if we believe that the 3200s are to be replaced by an option on the 9000s. The 300 9000s base order seems about right for the Brown and Orange lines. However, @garmon757's post is making me rethink this.

[Sam92]

9 minutes ago, Busjack said:

From my reading of the budget, I came to the opposite conclusion. 300 9000s are supposed to replace 2600s, and there are supposedly 490 2600s, so we get to the number of 190 2600s being replaced by 7000s. But that seems to mean a mixed fleet on the Blue Line if we believe that the 3200s are to be replaced by an option on the 9000s. The 300 9000s base order seems about right for the Brown and Orange lines. However, @garmon757's post is making me rethink this.

Well you have 258 2600s on the blue line right now so with 3200s starting to shift, I take that as a sign that the 7000s are all gonna end up on the Blue Line since that's the exact amount of cars it takes to run the service. All the blue line 2600s are the worst ones so I'd imagine that those are the ones that get scrapped. I don't think CTA is gonna mix fleets of 7000s with anything because that limits flexibility as far as what can couple with what. So now you have 300 2600s that have to go or be stored somewhere until the 9000s come in .

[Busjack]

2 hours ago, Sam92 said:

So now you have 300 2600s that have to go or be stored somewhere until the 9000s come in.

While they will be around until the 9000s come in, "stored somewhere" is the most unlikely outcome. That would be out-and-out fraud, and that "somewhere" probably doesn't exist (except maybe 61st Yard). Also, there are mentions in the budget of "life-extending overhaul of 2600/3200-Series" (page 83 of the pdf):

Quote

Title: Life Extending Overhaul 2600/3200-Series rail cars
Budget: $137M
Core Requirement: Maintain and Improve Safety Reliability.
Description: This project will provide for the life extension overhaul for the 2600/3200-Series rail cars. CTA anticipates a life extending overhaul to the 2600/3200-Series due to the slower than projected stream of 7000-Series rail cars.

It's probably similar to CTA saying to the feds that the electric buses would replace 20-year-old polluting buses. I though that was a joke, but the 6400s were in service past that.

The timelines for neither the 7000s nor 9000s are clear, aside from the above (CTA never explained how it could get 9000s quicker than exercising the options for 7000s, given that it will take at least 2 years to design, procure, and test the 9000s).

Maybe it's possible that Rosemont will be a 7000s yard and Forest Park a 9000s one.

[Sam92]

17 minutes ago, Busjack said:

While they will be around until the 9000s come in, "stored somewhere" is the most unlikely outcome. That would be out-and-out fraud, and that "somewhere" probably doesn't exist (except maybe 61st Yard). Also, there are mentions in the budget of "life-extending overhaul of 2600/3200-Series" (page 83 of the pdf):

It's probably similar to CTA saying to the feds that the electric buses would replace 20-year-old polluting buses. I though that was a joke, but the 6400s were in service past that.

The timelines for neither the 7000s nor 9000s is clear (CTA never explained how it could get 9000s quicker than exercising the options for 7000s, given that it will take at least 2 years to design, procure, and test the 9000s).

Maybe it's possible that Rosemont will be a 7000s yard and Forest Park a 9000s one.

Heres the thing though.... I think it was mentioned here that running mixed fleets of DC/AC equipment isn't good to do so the only way to do that would be to give all 7000s to blue and then 9000s replace orange and brown. If running mixed fleets isn't such an issue it's better to put 2600s on Green, Pink and Purple since those are the lighter lines. You could put 5000s from green onto brown and all 3200s on orange

[Erin Mishkin Jr.]

19 hours ago, garmon757 said:

Not sure anybody was aware but #3259-60 are currently assigned to Kimball. Expect more being assigned there as 2600s scrapping will begin its process in the spring coming up. 

they have been there since the middle or end of September