Orange Line a.m. trains to Kimball

[RailBus63]

Hi - just curious what the reason is for the seven a.m. rush hours Orange Line trains that operate past the Loop to Kimball.  Is this a temporary operation or is it an ongoing scheme move to provide additional morning Brown Line capacity?  Has it ever been done at other times of the day?

[Busjack]

51 minutes ago, RailBus63 said:

Hi - just curious what the reason is for the seven a.m. rush hours Orange Line trains that operate past the Loop to Kimball.  Is this a temporary operation or is it an ongoing scheme move to provide additional morning Brown Line capacity?  Has it ever been done at other times of the day?

Basically because there is nowhere to store another 56-72 cars at Kimball unless they want to condemn about half of Albany Park. The service increase was planned 20 years ago and implemented about 10, when the Brown Line went from 6 to 8 cars.

[RailBus63]

Thanks for the info.  Has it ever operated during the afternoon rush?  

[Juniorz]

No afternoon Brownage runs, but these trips actually started out as Ravenston trains back in 1980, beginning at Linden to the Loop via Express then operating as a Brown Line before returning to the Loop as a Purple Line to Linden.

The Ravenston would operated during weekday AM & PM rush periods, with certain Kimball equipment laying up at Howard during the day.

The Brownage was created back in 2012 as part of the Crowd Reduction Plan, "officially" replacing the Ravenston service.

The Brownage and the now defunct Ravenston were partly created due to passenger demand and the ability to efficiently utilize equipment during the weekday rush period.

[strictures]

Since Ravenswood went to 8 car trains, there's no more reason for the Evanston Expresses to stop at Wellington, Diversey, Armitage & Sedgwick.  That really makes them slow & once Wilson is open, even slower.

[orionbuslover]

1 hour ago, strictures said:

Since Ravenswood went to 8 car trains, there's no more reason for the Evanston Expresses to stop at Wellington, Diversey, Armitage & Sedgwick.  That really makes them slow & once Wilson is open, even slower.

After Belmont, the Purple shares the same track as the Brown line. There would be no time savings for the Purple line because they're all stuck behind a Brown. I can see the headlines now if passengers at those stations get passed by not fully packed Evanston trains.

[Juniorz]

Well, the Purple Line for the foreseeable future will continue to supplement the Brown Line south of Belmont because of ridership capacity.

I'm assuming if you haven't rode the Purple Line during the Rush Period, you would see why it is needed along that corridor.

[Busjack]

11 hours ago, orionbuslover said:

After Belmont, the Purple shares the same track as the Brown line. There would be no time savings for the Purple line because they're all stuck behind a Brown. I can see the headlines now if passengers at those stations get passed by not fully packed Evanston trains.

 

5 hours ago, Juniorz said:

Well, the Purple Line for the foreseeable future will continue to supplement the Brown Line south of Belmont because of ridership capacity.

I'm assuming if you haven't rode the Purple Line during the Rush Period, you would see why it is needed along that corridor.

Besides helicopters not being assigned to the Purple Line, @Juniorz implies the point that the crowding on the Brown Line is from Belmont south, which the Purple Line routing was originally said to address.

[Busjack]

I'll throw @strictures a bone. I suppose it would be possIble to send the Purple Line into the subway and get enough cars from yards with excess capacity (54th and 63-Racine) to make a couple of Brown Line round trips to maintain frequency berween Wellington and Mdse Mart. Of course, I don't know the logistics of this, and, of course the question of a Purple Line turnback at Roosevelt.