7000-series - Delivery & Updates

[strictures]

8 hours ago, Sam92 said:

Gonna take a shot in the dark and say it’s an unlock feature. Like when operators walk to a closed train with a key and unlock a door for themselves to walk in and set themselves up 

But why at the B end, as the cabs are the A end?

[Mr.NewFlyer1051]

7 minutes ago, strictures said:

But why at the B end, as the cabs are the A end?

they have a unlock thing already at the front end of car aka A end

[jajuan]

On 10/7/2020 at 10:13 PM, chicagocubs6323 said:

The 7000s are another step closer to running in passenger service.  They were testing at Bryn Mawr today.

I saw this video directly on YouTube when you first posted it. Very nice shots. 

[Tcmetro]

7009-7010 testing today. 

https://twitter.com/itskylelucas/status/1321143951068483587?s=19

[chicagocubs6323]

 

Another catch of the 7000 series cars testing. Good to see them for the 1st time testing in the mixed snow ❄ and rain ⛈. 

[deej]

On 10/11/2020 at 5:47 PM, strictures said:

Any idea why there are keypads on the outside at the B ends of each car?

I don't think those are keypads 

[chicagocubs6323]

 

[Mr.NewFlyer1051]

 

 

[BusHunter]

On 12/9/2020 at 10:55 PM, chicagocubs6323 said:

 

Great work my friend. Was thinking I was dreaming when I saw The #7000's on the Forest Pk branch. I was watching those cars sway and was thinking about them breaking there new toy for Xmas. Then it stopped at the tracks leading to Morgan middle and I was like no don't do it. The cars went into Morgan middle I was like man what a ripoff!! Did they ever go to Forest Pk? Seems funny, they just have the 4 cars. Where are the other 6? They are supposed to be testing them all. They got to be at Skokie Shops or I would be asking the company WTH!! Nothing is going to test in service without those cars.

[Mr.NewFlyer1051]

47 minutes ago, BusHunter said:

Great work my friend. Was thinking I was dreaming when I saw The #7000's on the Forest Pk branch. I was watching those cars sway and was thinking about them breaking there new toy for Xmas. Then it stopped at the tracks leading to Morgan middle and I was like no don't do it. The cars went into Morgan middle I was like man what a ripoff!! Did they ever go to Forest Pk? Seems funny, they just have the 4 cars. Where are the other 6? They are supposed to be testing them all. They got to be at Skokie Shops or I would be asking the company WTH!! Nothing is going to test in service without those cars.

yea this set went from the incline to ohare and then from ohare to forest park 

[chicagocubs6323]

1 hour ago, BusHunter said:

Great work my friend. Was thinking I was dreaming when I saw The #7000's on the Forest Pk branch. I was watching those cars sway and was thinking about them breaking there new toy for Xmas. Then it stopped at the tracks leading to Morgan middle and I was like no don't do it. The cars went into Morgan middle I was like man what a ripoff!! Did they ever go to Forest Pk? Seems funny, they just have the 4 cars. Where are the other 6? They are supposed to be testing them all. They got to be at Skokie Shops or I would be asking the company WTH!! Nothing is going to test in service without those cars.

As far as I know it is rumored there are 16 cars at Skokie, which is a shock to me.  My best guess is that they were testing to see how they run on both the O'Hare and Congress branches and clearance testing, which is why you see the cameras by the doors.  The clip at Morgan Middle, the train was coming from Forest Park and was on its way back to Skokie.  

[artthouwill]

1 hour ago, chicagocubs6323 said:

As far as I know it is rumored there are 16 cars at Skokie, which is a shock to me.  My best guess is that they were testing to see how they run on both the O'Hare and Congress branches and clearance testing, which is why you see the cameras by the doors.  The clip at Morgan Middle, the train was coming from Forest Park and was on its way back to Skokie.  

I remember last year some 5000s tested on the Forest Park branch.  It was reported those cars were too heavy, considering the track conditions on that segment.  That is why the 5000s that eventually ran only operated between Racine and Jefferson Park.

I can promise you track conditions on the Forest are branch haven't improved.  I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing the 7000s are as heavy or heavier than the 5000s.  It was nice seeing the new cars on that stretch.  Great video!

[Mr.NewFlyer1051]

2 minutes ago, artthouwill said:

I remember last year some 5000s tested on the Forest Park branch.  It was reported those cars were too heavy, considering the track conditions on that segment.  That is why the 5000s that eventually ran only operated between Racine and Jefferson Park.

I can promise you track conditions on the Forest are branch haven't improved.  I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing the 7000s are as heavy or heavier than the 5000s.  It was nice seeing the new cars on that stretch.  Great video!

they haven’t improved but they did get a lot worse 

[Sam92]

2 hours ago, Mr.NewFlyer1051 said:

they haven’t improved but they did get a lot worse 

 

Trackbed gonna turn into quicksand by the time it’s fixed if they’re waiting on the Eisenhower project 

[BusHunter]

11 hours ago, chicagocubs6323 said:

As far as I know it is rumored there are 16 cars at Skokie, which is a shock to me.  My best guess is that they were testing to see how they run on both the O'Hare and Congress branches and clearance testing, which is why you see the cameras by the doors.  The clip at Morgan Middle, the train was coming from Forest Park and was on its way back to Skokie.  

16 cars is high. Probably someone would have either leaked the delivery or the cars would have been seen by now. They might have 2 or 4 more at Skokie. Dont know about 6. That test train could have been 6 cars but it wasnt. Didnt realize the vantage was from racine. Thought I saw a UIC sign!! On Forest pk they could actually simulate a stop at cali, kostner or central. See if the train is kneeling right. Sounds like they will be in a world of hurt after we are down to 150 2600s to go because then 5000s or 7000s will have to run forest pk. The only alternative is a line/branch cut at racine or Halsted

[cta5658]

On ‎12‎/‎11‎/‎2020 at 11:54 PM, BusHunter said:

16 cars is high. Probably someone would have either leaked the delivery or the cars would have been seen by now. They might have 2 or 4 more at Skokie. Dont know about 6. That test train could have been 6 cars but it wasnt. Didnt realize the vantage was from racine. Thought I saw a UIC sign!! On Forest pk they could actually simulate a stop at cali, kostner or central. See if the train is kneeling right. Sounds like they will be in a world of hurt after we are down to 150 2600s to go because then 5000s or 7000s will have to run forest pk. The only alternative is a line/branch cut at racine or Halsted

This might be a farfetched idea, but maybe bring back some Blue Line 54/Cermak service if a line/branch cut happened at Racine and maybe use Polk as a transfer to Pink Line trains.

[BusHunter]

19 hours ago, cta5658 said:

This might be a farfetched idea, but maybe bring back some Blue Line 54/Cermak service if a line/branch cut happened at Racine and maybe use Polk as a transfer to Pink Line trains.

As long as Pink and blue had the same cars. They probably wouldnt want a mixed fleet on the blue even though that's what they have now. CTA to me seems like they dont want the concept of the pink line going to the downtown elevated to die. Maybe someone with clout rides the pink line from hq. 

There has to be a reason the 7000s went for a tour on the blue line. I think they are seeing are they viable there, because they may have no alternative but to run them there. Weird why not the orange or pink. Somethings up. I dont know but the clock is ticking, the cars are coming, then what do they do? 

On a side note, I was watching one of these ctaconnections videos where they showed the construction of the blue line from jeff to ohare. It was a cool video but they said on there that trains from ohare to downtown would take 33 minutes to do the trip. It takes 45 now. I dont know if it was a projection as they  were being interviewed in 1982 or if skip stop service really saved that much time. You know they talk of an airport express when the whole time all they really need is skip stop service again. Sometimes old school rules!!

[NewFlyerMCI]

9 minutes ago, BusHunter said:

As long as Pink and blue had the same cars. They probably wouldnt want a mixed fleet on the blue even though that's what they have now. CTA to me seems like they dont want the concept of the pink line going to the downtown elevated to die. Maybe someone with clout rides the pink line from hq. 

There has to be a reason the 7000s went for a tour on the blue line. I think they are seeing are they viable there, because they may have no alternative but to run them there. Weird why not the orange or pink. Somethings up. I dont know but the clock is ticking, the cars are coming, then what do they do? 

On a side note, I was watching one of these ctaconnections videos where they showed the construction of the blue line from jeff to ohare. It was a cool video but they said on there that trains from ohare to downtown would take 33 minutes to do the trip. It takes 45 now. I dont know if it was a projection as they  were being interviewed in 1982 or if skip stop service really saved that much time. You know they talk of an airport express when the whole time all they really need is skip stop service again. Sometimes old school rules!!

More service to forest park on the blue line & pink line supporting the green line, especially during rush hour are probably the two biggest reasons. Pink Line is the line with the lowest ridership outside of Purple/Yellow iirc. Blue line runs too frequently for the Douglass branch, and while you could artificially reduce the number of trains going to Forest Park, there just doesn't need to be 6-8 car trains going down that branch when CTA didn't even feel the need to run 6-car trains during the pandemic. I think the other reasons are just connections; people along the Pink Line who need to reach the NW side have a plethora of bus routes to choose from, but if you're looking to go downtown via the bus you only have the 18, the 21 (both of which are going to require a transfer), the 60 & the 157 (which only runs during weekdays). The Pink Line serves more of downtown, compared to the Blue Line, and also has better transfer points as a result (hypothetically, not sure why someone would go from Pink to Orange instead of the bus, but id much rather transfer at Adams/Wabash, or not being upset transferring at Clark/Lake, as opposed to having to do that from the Blue Line, since transferring at the Library or Clark/Lake requires a lot of extra travel regardless)

[Sam92]

2 hours ago, BusHunter said:

As long as Pink and blue had the same cars. They probably wouldnt want a mixed fleet on the blue even though that's what they have now. CTA to me seems like they dont want the concept of the pink line going to the downtown elevated to die. Maybe someone with clout rides the pink line from hq. 

There has to be a reason the 7000s went for a tour on the blue line. I think they are seeing are they viable there, because they may have no alternative but to run them there. Weird why not the orange or pink. Somethings up. I dont know but the clock is ticking, the cars are coming, then what do they do? 

On a side note, I was watching one of these ctaconnections videos where they showed the construction of the blue line from jeff to ohare. It was a cool video but they said on there that trains from ohare to downtown would take 33 minutes to do the trip. It takes 45 now. I dont know if it was a projection as they  were being interviewed in 1982 or if skip stop service really saved that much time. You know they talk of an airport express when the whole time all they really need is skip stop service again. Sometimes old school rules!!

I wouldn’t count the 7000s being on the blue line as an indicator of anything. It’s probably mandatory for them to hit all the lines at some point just to see how they handle various rail system conditions etc plus to make sure In case of emergency they can use they cars somewhere else as needed on the fly. Plus I’ve seen them a lot of places. I saw them in the loop not too long ago

[artthouwill]

5 hours ago, BusHunter said:

As long as Pink and blue had the same cars. They probably wouldnt want a mixed fleet on the blue even though that's what they have now. CTA to me seems like they dont want the concept of the pink line going to the downtown elevated to die. Maybe someone with clout rides the pink line from hq. 

There has to be a reason the 7000s went for a tour on the blue line. I think they are seeing are they viable there, because they may have no alternative but to run them there. Weird why not the orange or pink. Somethings up. I dont know but the clock is ticking, the cars are coming, then what do they do? 

On a side note, I was watching one of these ctaconnections videos where they showed the construction of the blue line from jeff to ohare. It was a cool video but they said on there that trains from ohare to downtown would take 33 minutes to do the trip. It takes 45 now. I dont know if it was a projection as they  were being interviewed in 1982 or if skip stop service really saved that much time. You know they talk of an airport express when the whole time all they really need is skip stop service again. Sometimes old school rules!!

Like I said before   I think the 7000s testing on the Forest Park Blue Line is necessary to see how the trackage responds to the heavy-duty cars.  CTA might be forced to upgrade that branch before IDOT finalizes any plans for the zone rebuild.  CTA is trying to work with IDOT, but time is running out.   I still think Orange and Brown are the first two lines that will get the 7000s.  That's 234 of the base order.  I suppose Pink and Green could round out the base order.  Blue would have to run some 2600s or 5000s in addition to the 3200s before exercising options for more 7000s, which would obviously go to Blue if the 2600s are still around.  

[BusHunter]

4 hours ago, artthouwill said:

Like I said before   I think the 7000s testing on the Forest Park Blue Line is necessary to see how the trackage responds to the heavy-duty cars.  CTA might be forced to upgrade that branch before IDOT finalizes any plans for the zone rebuild.  CTA is trying to work with IDOT, but time is running out.   I still think Orange and Brown are the first two lines that will get the 7000s.  That's 234 of the base order.  I suppose Pink and Green could round out the base order.  Blue would have to run some 2600s or 5000s in addition to the 3200s before exercising options for more 7000s, which would obviously go to Blue if the 2600s are still around.  

Yeah, something is going to have to happen once they get to the point of 300 #2600s retired because then your going into the last 100 blue line 2600s they will have. 256 #3200 cars cannot fully equip the blue plus the roofboard cars will not be coming over, so theres only so much that can be done. 

One thing that struck me listening to NewFlyerMCI is the unintended consequences of running all the blue line service or most of it to forest pk. You are now deteriorating the track faster so the problems on the branch multiply or speed up. All I can say is if there was no line cut they could do a uic train, a 54th train and then a forest pk in the rush. What would that be a 9 to 12 minute headway? Would pink line be dysfunctional running both blue and pink line service?  They could have the best of all worlds. 

[NewFlyerMCI]

11 hours ago, BusHunter said:

Yeah, something is going to have to happen once they get to the point of 300 #2600s retired because then your going into the last 100 blue line 2600s they will have. 256 #3200 cars cannot fully equip the blue plus the roofboard cars will not be coming over, so theres only so much that can be done. 

One thing that struck me listening to NewFlyerMCI is the unintended consequences of running all the blue line service or most of it to forest pk. You are now deteriorating the track faster so the problems on the branch multiply or speed up. All I can say is if there was no line cut they could do a uic train, a 54th train and then a forest pk in the rush. What would that be a 9 to 12 minute headway? Would pink line be dysfunctional running both blue and pink line service?  They could have the best of all worlds. 

Ironically, reading that last part, it makes me think the Pink Line would probably be best served running mixed service btwn the Loop & Jeff Park. Or at the very least, it wouldn't hurt. I don't think it would be dysfunctional, the Douglass branch would like just see an uptick in service from combined Pink/Blue service, which im sure the riders won't complain about. Avg Pink Line headway is 12-15 mins even during rush hour, so any blue line service would only improve frequency along the corridor.

[BusHunter]

2 hours ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

Ironically, reading that last part, it makes me think the Pink Line would probably be best served running mixed service btwn the Loop & Jeff Park. Or at the very least, it wouldn't hurt. I don't think it would be dysfunctional, the Douglass branch would like just see an uptick in service from combined Pink/Blue service, which im sure the riders won't complain about. Avg Pink Line headway is 12-15 mins even during rush hour, so any blue line service would only improve frequency along the corridor.

If CTA would disagree, they could also just do it temporarily until the forest pk line gets fixed but they are going to have to do a complete rebuild. What ever happened to the plastic composite ties they were laying? They never laid those on the forest pk branch? Those are perfect in non drainage areas that have ballast like expressway medians. Probably the all wood ties could work better where they can drip dry on an elevated structure, but newer structures like the orange line are different. 

[Sam92]

14 minutes ago, BusHunter said:

If CTA would disagree, they could also just do it temporarily until the forest pk line gets fixed but they are going to have to do a complete rebuild. What ever happened to the plastic composite ties they were laying? They never laid those on the forest pk branch? Those are perfect in non drainage areas that have ballast like expressway medians. Probably the all wood ties could work better where they can drip dry on an elevated structure, but newer structures like the orange line are different. 

They actually laid plastic out on the forest park branch the issue is the roadbed underneath. Same with the Dan Ryan, 63rd to Garfield had fresh plastic ties laid but a month later the slow zones came back 

[Sam92]

2 hours ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

Ironically, reading that last part, it makes me think the Pink Line would probably be best served running mixed service btwn the Loop & Jeff Park. Or at the very least, it wouldn't hurt. I don't think it would be dysfunctional, the Douglass branch would like just see an uptick in service from combined Pink/Blue service, which im sure the riders won't complain about. Avg Pink Line headway is 12-15 mins even during rush hour, so any blue line service would only improve frequency along the corridor.

If that were to happen I’d cut out every other pink line and replace it with the blues. to avoid over serving the line.