Red Line Extension (RLE)

[Sam92]

On 7/10/2026 at 12:08 PM, pudgym29 said:

Could the Lake St. leg of the Green Line get by with six-car trains? 🧐

If you meant 4 cars; not at all!

[Javi75]

23 minutes ago, Sam92 said:

If you meant 4 cars; not at all!

But not even physically possible? Are the current consists being filled to max capacity at peak ridership? 

[Sam92]

1 hour ago, Javi75 said:

But not even physically possible? Are the current consists being filled to max capacity at peak ridership? 

Well I can't speak for post COVID but it definitely was SRO during rush when I rode it. A frequency increase would definitely be needed to compensate but then you have the issue of having 2 lines on the south legs being over served to maintain capacity on their respective Northside branches. 

[pudgym29]

What I implied was with the imbalance of ridership on the West-South line, with most of the ridership being on the south leg, which would get eight-car trains; splitting the route such that the west leg could have six-car trains - and be looped back to the west leg without running south of Adams | Wabash would reduce the overall number of cars needed for the Green line,

[Sam92]

25 minutes ago, pudgym29 said:

What I implied was with the imbalance of ridership on the West-South line, with most of the ridership being on the south leg, which would get eight-car trains; splitting the route such that the west leg could have six-car trains - and be looped back to the west leg without running south of Adams | Wabash would reduce the overall number of cars needed for the Green line,

The West/Lake side is actually the side with the higher ridership. If you're talking matching car lengths it's arguable that since the southern half of the Green Line is the side that could probably survive with 4 cars it would be better to make it an extension of the Pink Line and run 8 car trains on the green line. 

[artthouwill]

16 minutes ago, pudgym29 said:

What I implied was with the imbalance of ridership on the West-South line, with most of the ridership being on the south leg, which would get eight-car trains; splitting the route such that the west leg could have six-car trains - and be looped back to the west leg without running south of Adams | Wabash would reduce the overall number of cars needed for the Green line,

Has there been a shift in ridership?  It seemed like the Lake Street branch had better ridership than the SSM.  The real culprit of the Green Line having six cat consists lies in the fact that CTA cut the structure too shirt at Cottage Grove now it's unable to accordance 8⃣ car trains.  That wasn't the case when the Green Line reopened in 1996, but CTA didn't really think ridership on the entire line justified 8 car consists.

With some TODs popping up along the line at 43rd and 63rd/ Cottage Grove  and a new nursing school scheduled to be built bezt to Garfield Green Line station, cutting cats doesn't appear to be a good idea.

 

The only thing CTA can do is keep the old equipment around until enough 7000s and possibly 9000s arrive to completely retire the 2599s/3200s, fully equipped the extended Red Line and the rest of the system.

[Busjack]

The May 2026 Ridership Report demonstrates that @Sam92 and @artthouwill's assertions are factually correct and @pudgym29's is wrong.

Boardings (current year, weekday):

Green Line--Lake St. 20,362

South Elevated: 6,421

East 63rd 1,124

Ashland/63 1,114

Total South Side: 8,659

South Side has about 42% of what Lake has.

So, as @Sam92 indicates, it would make more sense to cut south side, but then there would be the problem of more trains on the Loop L and south siders have traditionally complained about cutting through routes.

On @artthouwill's second point, south side is up around 4% while Lake is marginally down, so there is some growth south.

 

 

[Sam92]

40 minutes ago, Busjack said:

The May 2026 Ridership Report demonstrates that @Sam92 and @artthouwill's assertions are factually correct and @pudgym29's is wrong.

Boardings (current year, weekday):

Green Line--Lake St. 20,362

South Elevated: 6,421

East 63rd 1,124

Ashland/63 1,114

Total South Side: 8,659

South Side has about 42% of what Lake has.

So, as @Sam92 indicates, it would make more sense to cut south side, but then there would be the problem of more trains on the Loop L and south siders have traditionally complained about cutting through routes.

 

 

 

Since Pink isn't too far off from SSM at 12,000-13,000 we could keep a through route by sending the SSM trains via the Douglas since both branches justify 4 cars. 

[NewFlyerMCI]

On 7/16/2026 at 3:50 PM, Sam92 said:

Since Pink isn't too far off from SSM at 12,000-13,000 we could keep a through route by sending the SSM trains via the Douglas since both branches justify 4 cars. 

Is Orange & Brown enough to serve the S/W sides of the loop?

[artthouwill]

48 minutes ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

Is Orange & Brown enough to serve the S/W sides of the loop?

Under his idea, the Green Line would also serve that area.  Basically he's swapping the Punk and Green Lines in the Loop.

[Sam92]

On 7/22/2026 at 8:37 PM, artthouwill said:

Under his idea, the Green Line would also serve that area.  Basically he's swapping the Punk and Green Lines in the Loop.

 

On 7/22/2026 at 7:47 PM, NewFlyerMCI said:

Is Orange & Brown enough to serve the S/W sides of the loop?

It should be. Wells and Van Buren sides probably got killed by COVID similar to LaSalle I'm assuming. Plus idk how much the provision to serve Clark/Lake first still holds weight so I didn't really get that far on HOW it would get through downtown 😅

[Busjack]

1 hour ago, Sam92 said:

 

It should be. Wells and Van Buren sides probably got killed by COVID similar to LaSalle I'm assuming. Plus idk how much the provision to serve Clark/Lake first still holds weight so I didn't really get that far on HOW it would get through downtown 😅

In that the premise was that CTA was not going to get more 7000s, but now there is evidence that there may be 60 in progress, I don't see how continuing this diversion in the RLE topic advances anything.