5000-series - Updates

[chicagopcclcar]

To put rumors to bed....."Blue line is plagued with many little mini slow zones due to cracked rails and deferred maintenance. So with the 5000s being 10,000 lbs heavier per car, I guess the BIG WIGS wanted to see if we could ever accommodate them."  TESTING....NOTHING ELSE.

[Busjack]

1 hour ago, artthouwill said:

That runs contrary to a rumor someone posted about 100 3200s (after 3200 series  rehabs are completed) going to the Blue Line with 100 2600 series cars going to the Brown Line. 

It doesn't  make sense to send Pink and Green Line 5000s to the Blue Line seeing that half the cars would still be 2600s.  At least the 3200s are comparable and can train with the 2600s whereas the 5000s can't.  My idea was to move all of the 3200s ro Blue and move a like number of2600s to the Brown and Orange Lines.

I guess those 7000s can't get  here fast enough 

 

CTA is unpredictable, but one thing that militates against  the rumor is that CTA has tried to keep its yards and terminal shops consistent. Since the Pink and Green Lines have fewer than half of the cars needed to stock the Blue Line, the Blue Line would need mixed parts in its shops, and the Lake shop would have to be restocked. It gets worse when the 7000s arrive.

[artthouwill]

27 minutes ago, chicagopcclcar said:

To put rumors to bed....."Blue line is plagued with many little mini slow zones due to cracked rails and deferred maintenance. So with the 5000s being 10,000 lbs heavier per car, I guess the BIG WIGS wanted to see if we could ever accommodate them."  TESTING....NOTHING ELSE.

That hopefully quashes the 5000s ro Blue Line rumor since it  wasn't practical anyway.  

[chicagopcclcar]

52 minutes ago, artthouwill said:

That hopefully quashes the 5000s ro Blue Line rumor since it  wasn't practical anyway.  

Yes....RUMORS....That's why I voided my own embargo of posting here. I see B-----k still won't read my posts. Let him stay the dark, LOL. Tonight I'm busy following that OSC Union Pacific Special coming back from New York to Chicago. The Sprit of UP is in the lead. NS cab signals were added so it can head the nine car passenger train. It west of Cleveland now. Here's a picture I took on the eastern trip last week.

DH

[dann]

On 6/4/2018 at 10:05 PM, chicagopcclcar said:

Yes....RUMORS....That's why I voided my own embargo of posting here. I see B-----k still won't read my posts. Let him stay the dark, LOL. Tonight I'm busy following that OSC Union Pacific Special coming back from New York to Chicago. The Sprit of UP is in the lead. NS cab signals were added so it can head the nine car passenger train. It west of Cleveland now. Here's a picture I took on the eastern trip last week.

DH

So cool, always wanted to ride in a business car. Nice that UP still has those because I’ve read and heard rumors that freight railroad companies are doing away with those to save money (and please stockholders).

[Busjack]

LOL, somebody goofed.

[BusHunter]

On 6/4/2018 at 9:14 PM, artthouwill said:

That hopefully quashes the 5000s ro Blue Line rumor since it  wasn't practical anyway.  

Hopefully the 7000s won't be that heavy or they might have to keep some 3200s around. LOL!!

IIRC, the blue line has had a lot of rail maintenance as of late on the nw side so I don't know how bad the rails are. Maybe they meant on the Congress tracks. I think the problem is the equipment. Has anyone checked the ridership lately on the blue line cause I'm hearing a lot of people are taking ubers because of blue line delays? 

[chicagopcclcar]

UP has over 30 cars. This consist had two diners, two lounge cars, and the theater car. The first car was the power car. There were three sleeping cars too. Location was E. 95th St. and S. South Chicago Ave. Over and out.

 

DH

[Busjack]

20 minutes ago, BusHunter said:

Hopefully the 7000s won't be that heavy or they might have to keep some 3200s around. LOL!!

That gets me thinking that the 5000s were said to be coincidental with fixing the Dan Ryan portion of the Red Line. I haven't heard anything lately about the IDOT project to rebuild the Eisenhower Expressway including the Congress portion of the Blue Line (last thing on the website is that thfe FHWA approved the final environmental impact statement). Maybe the rumor on putting 3200s on the Blue Line had some legs.

[strictures]

5 hours ago, chicagopcclcar said:

UP has over 30 cars. This consist had two diners, two lounge cars, and the theater car. The first car was the power car. There were three sleeping cars too. Location was E. 95th St. and S. South Chicago Ave. Over and out.

 

DH

A couple of years ago, I saw a UP business consist roll through Rogers Park going north.  It was a lot shorter than the one you photographed.

[chicagopcclcar]

55 minutes ago, strictures said:

A couple of years ago, I saw a UP business consist roll through Rogers Park going north.  It was a lot shorter than the one you photographed.

There was two-car one in CA this year. The longest UP special this year was a 22-car one. Bringing this comment back to CTA 5000s, here's the TEST train at O'Hare.

DH

 

[sw4400]

On 6/4/2018 at 10:05 PM, chicagopcclcar said:

Yes....RUMORS....That's why I voided my own embargo of posting here. I see B-----k still won't read my posts. Let him stay the dark, LOL. Tonight I'm busy following that OSC Union Pacific Special coming back from New York to Chicago. The Sprit of UP is in the lead. NS cab signals were added so it can head the nine car passenger train. It west of Cleveland now. Here's a picture I took on the eastern trip last week.

DH

That's the Union Pacific OCS(Office Car Special). They ferry around Corporate personnel from the company. I've seen the CSX one and the NS one as well.

[Busjack]

Surprisingly, CTA has posted its explanation why 2600s are still on the Blue Line.

[MTRSP1900-CTA3200]

23 minutes ago, Busjack said:

Surprisingly, CTA has posted its explanation why 2600s are still on the Blue Line.

I can understand the first bullet point, but for the second one, if the 5000s use more power, how are the 7000s going to be any better on the current power system? I feel like for the section discussing the 2600s, the CTA is saying that the 7000s are the big answer, but those will effectively be held back by the infrastructure restraints. Hopefully the power and signal upgrades will be done in time.

[Busjack]

28 minutes ago, MTRSP1900-CTA3200 said:

how are the 7000s going to be any better on the current power system?

All the stuff above that the car sharing tax is supposedly paying for more substations, as you indicated in your last sentence.

[BusHunter]

5 hours ago, Busjack said:

Surprisingly, CTA has posted its explanation why 2600s are still on the Blue Line.

I don't buy that. Red line just needs the more reliable cars. Could you imagine the 2600s being pushed to the limit on the red line. It's also political. There are more Dan Ryan riders than Congress so less chance for any complaints to hit the mainstream. There are significant delays now on the blue line. 

Uber isn't complaining. There have been countless rides because of this. The riding public is savvy. If something doesnt work they will go somewhere else. I have to admit for bigger crowds it's the smarter choice. You get what you pay for. 

[Busjack]

4 hours ago, BusHunter said:

Red line just needs the more reliable cars.

Whether or not one believes the official line, the official line also acknowledged that the Blue Line has more traffic than everything else but the Red Line, but somehow the Pink, Green, Purple, and Yellow have 5000s.

The stuff about each shop being set up for one type of car does seem to conform to reality on the tracks,

[BusHunter]

3 minutes ago, Busjack said:

Whether or not one believes the official line, the official line also acknowledged that the Blue Line has more traffic than everything else but the Red Line, but somehow the Pink, Green, Purple, and Yellow have 5000s.

The stuff about each shop being set up for one type of car does seem to conform to reality on the tracks,

So you think the blue line runs more trains than red? No way. Check the ridership and I bet that you can prove it's not true.

[Busjack]

Just now, BusHunter said:

So you think the blue line runs more trains than red? No way. Check the ridership and I bet that you can prove it's not true.

I didn't say that. I said that the CTA page said that it (at least the Milwaukee to O'Hare part) was the second heaviest in the system.

What’s more, the Blue Line’s O’Hare Branch, which runs between O’Hare International Airport and downtown, is CTA’s second-busiest rail branch, carrying more than 86,400 riders on an average weekday. The O’Hare branch has experienced an unprecedented ridership boom in recent years, as a number of neighborhoods along the branch have grown and developed. In fact, between 2006-2016, ridership increased by 5.4 million rides, the second-highest of any rail branch. The biggest growth has come during the morning rush hour, between 6:00 and 9:00 am:

You should also note that the complaints about the trains being overcrowded start at Damen. It doesn't seem to be a coincidence that the Milwaukee substation work (see Construction Report ) on that stretch of the Blue Line is slated to be completed in 2020, just about when  the 7000s are supposed to start arriving.

However, my only point was that for a change, CTA was acknowledging the complaints. And for someone who lives on the northwest side and has been continually complaining about the equipment on the Blue Line, I'm suddenly surprised that your concern is now the Red Line.

[Pink Jazz]

15 hours ago, Busjack said:

Whether or not one believes the official line, the official line also acknowledged that the Blue Line has more traffic than everything else but the Red Line, but somehow the Pink, Green, Purple, and Yellow have 5000s.

The stuff about each shop being set up for one type of car does seem to conform to reality on the tracks,

Since Red, Purple, and Yellow often borrow each other's cars, I am pretty sure CTA wants them to have a common fleet.  The same applies for the Pink and Green, which combined don't have nearly enough cars to fully equip the Blue Line with 5000s.

[BusHunter]

23 hours ago, Busjack said:

I didn't say that. I said that the CTA page said that it (at least the Milwaukee to O'Hare part) was the second heaviest in the system.

What’s more, the Blue Line’s O’Hare Branch, which runs between O’Hare International Airport and downtown, is CTA’s second-busiest rail branch, carrying more than 86,400 riders on an average weekday. The O’Hare branch has experienced an unprecedented ridership boom in recent years, as a number of neighborhoods along the branch have grown and developed. In fact, between 2006-2016, ridership increased by 5.4 million rides, the second-highest of any rail branch. The biggest growth has come during the morning rush hour, between 6:00 and 9:00 am:

You should also note that the complaints about the trains being overcrowded start at Damen. It doesn't seem to be a coincidence that the Milwaukee substation work (see Construction Report ) on that stretch of the Blue Line is slated to be completed in 2020, just about when  the 7000s are supposed to start arriving.

However, my only point was that for a change, CTA was acknowledging the complaints. And for someone who lives on the northwest side and has been continually complaining about the equipment on the Blue Line, I'm suddenly surprised that your concern is now the Red Line.

Politically the red line is the better choice. Anyone who rides the trains in the morning knows the train overcrowds around Logan square, usually seating is lost around belmont. 

Where my major disagreement is this whole consolidation thing. Blue line should have 3200s and shelve some of these 2600s. The extra 5000s on the lines are staggering. Green line can operate on 100 cars. This same pattern exists across the system. Thanks to consolidation. Can the blue line run 5000s. Of course. Can the 2600s be relegated to rush hour or weekday only use. Most likely. Can the system run newer trains across the system . sure why cta doesnt do that i dont understand. The first 60 years of the cta was run this way were they wrong to do this? I don't know how this is being justified. How do you save money running junk 24/7? How do you get someone to ride it? The bus system is no longer ran this way. Why is rail so special? 

[Busjack]

10 hours ago, BusHunter said:

Can the blue line run 5000s. Of course.

The question again is have you taken your engineering degree to Ashland/Division and put an ammeter on the third rail and verified it? Of course not.

As I said, I'm not vouching for CTA's explanation, just reporting it, but you are not in any position to question it.

10 hours ago, BusHunter said:

sure why cta doesnt do that i dont understand.

There was the explanation in the article. Why you can't understand what is there is your business.

10 hours ago, BusHunter said:

The first 60 years of the cta was run this way were they wrong to do this?

The first 60 years it didn't run this kind of car. Should we go back to running converted streetcars on the L?

10 hours ago, BusHunter said:

I don't know how this is being justified.

Read 2 blocks up, again.

 

10 hours ago, BusHunter said:

How do you get someone to ride it?

If the trains are overloaded at either Logan Square or Damen, someone is riding it.

 

10 hours ago, BusHunter said:

The bus system is no longer ran this way.

Aren't you the one who keeps complaining about 6400s at Forest Glen? Yes it is run this way. Pace is now run this way, too.

 

I'm not sure where your head was at 11 p.m. last night, but it wasn't into this.

[artthouwill]

10 hours ago, BusHunter said:

Politically the red line is the better choice. Anyone who rides the trains in the morning knows the train overcrowds around Logan square, usually seating is lost around belmont. 

Where my major disagreement is this whole consolidation thing. Blue line should have 3200s and shelve some of these 2600s. The extra 5000s on the lines are staggering. Green line can operate on 100 cars. This same pattern exists across the system. Thanks to consolidation. Can the blue line run 5000s. Of course. Can the 2600s be relegated to rush hour or weekday only use. Most likely. Can the system run newer trains across the system . sure why cta doesnt do that i dont understand. The first 60 years of the cta was run this way were they wrong to do this? I don't know how this is being justified. How do you save money running junk 24/7? How do you get someone to ride it? The bus system is no longer ran this way. Why is rail so special? 

There was a reported testing of a 5000 series train on the Blue Line a few weeks ago.  While no one seems to know the exact purpose of this test, it could be related to the power usage of the 5000 series cars on that line.  Perhaps CTA concluded that it cannot  yet put these railcars in service on the Blue Line and they recognize power upgrades are necessary before the 7000s come.

We will have to wait until the 3200 series rehabs are completed to see if CTA will send some of those from the Brown and/or the Orange Lines to the Blue Line.  That's the  best case scenario for the near future.

[chicagopcclcar]

30 minutes ago, artthouwill said:

There was a reported testing of a 5000 series train on the Blue Line a few weeks ago.  

 

[Aiden Tabucic]

45 minutes ago, chicagopcclcar said:

 

Why were they testing