Wilson Red/Purple Line Station Rebuild

[Juniorz]

The crossover at leland should be complete by rush hour monday, seeing that they've performed train testing on March 13th. If they are in fact dismantling track 2, then the crossover should be complete and ready

[BusHunter]

2 hours ago, Juniorz said:

The crossover at leland should be complete by rush hour monday, seeing that they've performed train testing on March 13th. If they are in fact dismantling track 2, then the crossover should be complete and ready

They are erecting more walls too, both on the new wilson platform and the old. Lots of workers are out there, they have the track alignment machine over there and were filling in ballast at the lawrence crossover which was completely down to the structure. Ballast is actually being pumped in by truck from the bank lot below. It was a sight to see. On the south end chainsaws are buzzing as they chainsaw the ties to track 2. Some of the structure is already down to the bare metal. The contractor has erected small cables along the barren parts of the structure, so I guess the workers can't fall off it, cause some of it is just girders. They have a crane on broadway lifting off sections of rail, one was tied up ready to go right when my train passed. Too much!! Alot is going on here.

[Juniorz]

40 minutes ago, BusHunter said:

They are erecting more walls too, both on the new wilson platform and the old. Lots of workers are out there, they have the track alignment machine over there and were filling in ballast at the lawrence crossover which was completely down to the structure. Ballast is actually being pumped in by truck from the bank lot below. It was a sight to see. On the south end chainsaws are buzzing as they chainsaw the ties to track 2. Some of the structure is already down to the bare metal. The contractor has erected small cables along the barren parts of the structure, so I guess the workers can't fall off it, cause some of it is just girders. They have a crane on broadway lifting off sections of rail, one was tied up ready to go right when my train passed. Too much!! Alot is going on here.

So at this rate, Phase 2 should be done during November, hopefully sooner than that! Seems like each milestone of the project begins on a Monday, with a weekend shutdown of tracks 1 and 2 before the major rush hour service change.

[BusHunter]

10 hours ago, Juniorz said:

So at this rate, Phase 2 should be done during November, hopefully sooner than that! Seems like each milestone of the project begins on a Monday, with a weekend shutdown of tracks 1 and 2 before the major rush hour service change.

They probably figure it's easier to demolish track 2 without track 1 in service. How do you get a crane between two live tracks to haul away the structure? They are going to have their hands full anyway with the installation of the new track 2 structure. Thankfully it's partially done already. That and the sb station is virtually finished. That's probably why track 2 is 6 months. Track 3 will be more challenging though. It's a 6 month project too and they will need to construct the nb platform. That sounds tight.

[Juniorz]

5 hours ago, BusHunter said:

They probably figure it's easier to demolish track 2 without track 1 in service. How do you get a crane between two live tracks to haul away the structure? They are going to have their hands full anyway with the installation of the new track 2 structure. Thankfully it's partially done already. That and the sb station is virtually finished. That's probably why track 2 is 6 months. Track 3 will be more challenging though. It's a 6 month project too and they will need to construct the nb platform. That sounds tight.

My thoughts are that either they are going to reroute Red Line trains from Track 3 to 2 in phase 3 or just let the Red Line bypass Wilson on track 4 during phase 3. The way everything is realigned now, it seems that it is now feasible to move in a rapid pace, it was just realigning the new track 1. 

[BusHunter]

I took a tour of Wilson today. They have installed the connecting bridge right from one platform to the other. It sits about a foot above the tracks and rests right on each platform. They installed this green tarp like at Addison/blue along the west edge of old Wilson and the new Wilson's east side. Looks pretty much good to go.

The north connection has been built basically in 24 hours. It was a barren structure yesterday and today it's completed tracks resting on ballast almost ready for service. The switch is installed but they were working on the signaling when I passed.

I took in a street view also today. The entrances don't appear to be in an actionable state. I don't know if that means they are done or they are waiting to open it, but CTA indicates they will be open. You know I was thinking with the bridge connection they don't really need the new entrances because both platforms are connected so we shall see if there is a delay on the entrances or not.

[BusHunter]

Here's shots of Wilson/Red line's grand opening phase 1 complete

A look at the tracks, brand new

south wilson entrance from platform

a long platform isn't it

elevator's still boarded up

the south wilson entrance from street level

the north wilson entrance from street level

a look at the north stairs

the north entrance from platform level

a look at the transfer bridge

a couple shots looking through the portholes of the bridge north and south

a look at the lawrence tower all new ballast and track for about 100 feet on tracks 1 and 2

 

 

[MTRSP1900-CTA3200]

I find it interesting that at first the SB Purple Line merged onto the SB Red Line track, but now it's completely reversed. Boy did that change fast.

And of course we inch towards the final product. Looking good CTA!

[BusHunter]

Alot quieter too. A train rolled by and you could hardly hear the rumble. I guess the sunnyside entrance didn't open it looked blocked off and the staircase looks like it's going to the garage. They have a few bobcat sized front loaders working on a concrete ramp down there. You can only see it from the "L" though. This ramp will be really nice to go to Target plus there always seems to be people begging for money at Wilson/Broadway so it's a good way to escape that. I'm hoping that will be a farecard entrance too.

[Juniorz]

They threw that transfer bridge up real quick. This "officially" marks the start of Wilson becoming a transfer station.

[Busjack]

Story* about how a community group wants a public plaza under the Wilson tracks.

*BTW, I don't think it is a secret that the RedEye is one way around the paywall.

[BusHunter]

Not much was going on at Wilson/Red this week, they just seem to be removing track 2 ties, tracks and walkways as much as they can.

They are trying to install the escalator. No more climbing all those stairs!!

 

[BusHunter]

Well this week all the ties and tracks are gone from track 2 and they have began the removal of old steel. They removed 2 or 3 spans across broadway. They look like they might have removed a span around sunnyside. Up at broadway they seem to already have piers extending into track 2, I don't know if they need to build foundation piers there or not. They have what looks like temp ones holding the old track 2 in place. They might just be placing the steel on those until they can get the track 4 foundation piers to hold it naturally. It doesn't seem like that project could take 6 months, but they'll probably drag it out. 

[BusHunter]

This week at Wilson/Red line they have removed a few more spans of steel particularly over broadway and at the south end of construction. It looks funny over broadway there is just a two track structure. They still need to remove some foundation piers, but maybe in another month they'll have all the steel removed for track 2 and can concentrate on the new steel structure. A couple shots from the transfer bridge.

[BusHunter]

This week at Wilson they have removed all the steel girders and supports at the south end of track 2 along with the steel girders along the platform just leaving the metal supports. The north side of the bridge shows they still have some complete sections of metal to remove but over broadway all the metal supports and beams have been removed. Here's a few shots from the transfer bridge

They have also began the shoring up of track 2 close to the bridge for a concrete pour for track 2, so the project is moving along. Here's some pictures of that

 

[BusHunter]

Here's the latest on Wilson/Red line (5/2/16) Here's some shots I took today.

They have now tore out all the steel for track 2 except north of the transfer bridge and along the former track 2 alignment south of the old Wilson station. They did tear out the steel along the length of the new platform along the future track 2. They are digging holes down at the south end for the foundations/caissons that will hold the future track 2. Kind of interesting, they have these concrete blocks that help hold the structure while they work to extend the 4 track support, then when that section gets done they pull out the supports.

[BusHunter]

The latest look at Wilson/Red has revealed that now all the track 2 steel is gone except the old steel by the old platform, but technically that's not in the footprint of the new track 2. To start off here are some shots from the transfer bridge first looking south

Then north

Here's a little more detailed look at the construction at the tail end of the platform on the south end

They also have torn out part of the nb platform over here. I used my David Blaine impression to get you this shot.

Then I took a shot off the north end of the platform looking at the new steel piers they have put over broadway. They also have a few ties at the south end that have been dropped off but not yet put in place.

Finally I took a picture of the old platform to the east. It's getting pretty bad and looks like it's about to fall apart. Easily the oldest wood at the authority at least 25 years old.

[BusHunter]

Here's some shots of Wilson/Red line I took on Sunday 5/22. The track 2 steel installation is going full steam now. Broadway looks to only have a span or two left and they are working at the south end with the steel now too. The have more steel waiting to go up in the area between track 1 and 3, so more steel will be going up this week. BTW, i left the pictures bigger this time. Maybe you can see more detail cause some of the spans are in the distance.

 

[BusHunter]

Here's the latest update for Wilson/Red line. They have now completed the elevated structure steel installation. They only need to concrete the top layer lay some tracks and they'll be done

[Busjack]

42 minutes ago, BusHunter said:

They have now completed the elevated structure steel installation.

Obviously they need some blue steel on either end.

[BusHunter]

Here's the latest shots on Wilson/Red line.

They have already concreted track 2 from the north end at the south end of broadway to just past the transfer bridge plus they are putting in rebar for the areas south of there. Are they sure they still need 4 months to finish this, looks like 2 months tops to me.

[BusHunter]

Here's some pictures of Wilson Red line. i can't believe how quickly they are progressing. They have installed tracks now north of the pedestrian bridge on the new track 2 structure plus they have concreted the structure clear down to the 8 car marker and beyond that they are setting up the rebar, so they should be done with the structure at least by next month. They already have tracks over the broadway section too. So basically the north end has the rough draft completed and just needs to work on track connections signaling and what not.

 

[Juniorz]

I would say, by at least around September they should be done with Track 2, thus eliminating all access to the old Wilson station, platform and Track 3 as we know it. Remember, Leland will once again be reconfigured, so when the cta begins it's express operations between Sheridan and Howard, you'll know that the next phase will be in place.

STAY TUNED!

[BusHunter]

Yeah if you look over there a big section of track 3 has been concreted I would say from the 2 to 8 car marker so that's  even less they'll have to do on that phase of the project.

[jajuan]

I passed through there this morning, and workers were laying concrete in a few small unfinished sections of the footprint of what will become the new tracks 2 and 3. You can really see now how the layout of the new station will be similar to the Belmont and Fullerton stations with Red Line trains transitioning from left side to right side boarding. And does CTA really have to run both Red and Purple Line trains on the northbound side express up to Howard in the next phase? There's no way for them to simply bypass Wilson and use crossover interlockings if need be?