7000-series - Delivery

[artthouwill 776]

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 98]

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 303]

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 2306]

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 34]

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 2306]

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 246]

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 303]

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 776]

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 2306]

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 246]

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 2306]

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 303]

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 303]

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. 

[NewFlyerMCI 246]

11 hours ago, Sam92 said:

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. 

Oh, definitely. I'm not sure it would be a 1:1 replacement though, Blue Line would need a schedule adjustment, yes?

[Sam92 303]

7 hours ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

Oh, definitely. I'm not sure it would be a 1:1 replacement though, Blue Line would need a schedule adjustment, yes?

Yeah both lines would Need one to avoid both over serving and the issue of too many conflicting junction moves. Plus you’d need to most likely bring back the train identification equipment for Loomis Junction to help the signal system set the correct line up unless the schedule is cut right to where signals can jsut automatically alternate between a UIC, Forest Park and 54th train. 

[Sam92 303]

8 hours ago, NewFlyerMCI said:

Oh, definitely. I'm not sure it would be a 1:1 replacement though, Blue Line would need a schedule adjustment, yes?

Theoretically the main trunk of the blue line would be the current 2-3 min headways west of UIC every 4-6 then at Racine 10-12 on the branches. (Pink would be cut to every 10-12 min rush) so now Douglas essentially becomes a better choice of service between a direct L ride to UIC then downtown (for more direct red line connections)and O’Hare (helps take pressure off of route #60) or a direct ride to the west loop/ Fulton market area then downtown for Orange, Brown and Purple connections. The best of both worlds as @BusHunter rightfully claims. Also by reducing pink line service this frees up congestion in the loop and since CTA eventually needs track space clear for future brown line additions this helps somewhat 

[Mr.NewFlyer1051 98]

per a facebook group person 7003-7010 are at skokie they were testing earlier on purple line 

[BusHunter 2306]

5 hours ago, Mr.NewFlyer1051 said:

per a facebook group person 7003-7010 are at skokie they were testing earlier on purple line 

Then probably the 10 cars are there. #7001-02 is probably internal at the shops. Mechanics need a mechanical trainer and that's most likely it. 

[Mr.NewFlyer1051 98]

4 minutes ago, BusHunter said:

Then probably the 10 cars are there. #7001-02 is probably internal at the shops. Mechanics need a mechanical trainer and that's most likely it. 

i did see another 2 car set outside of skokie not on the side i didn’t get the number 7003-7010 are on the side 

[BusHunter 2306]

3 minutes ago, Mr.NewFlyer1051 said:

i did see another 2 car set outside of skokie not on the side i didn’t get the number 7003-7010 are on the side 

Eventually it will go in service. They have to test it. Good maybe they can get the testing with passengers by Apr. That would be the timeline if you look at my 5000s in service dates.

[chitowndude84 15]

Well i just picked up a MAJOR clue !!

 

Looks like the 7000 series are heading first to the BLUE AND GREEN lines !!

 

Check out video Time stamp 0:46       The line route map inside has the "Blue line" and next a GREEN line on them 

 

Also first time I ever seen "Howard" sign with a blue colored background lol 

 

Video Credit goes to youtube user: Transitlife NYC

 

[artthouwill 776]

8 hours ago, chitowndude84 said:

Well i just picked up a MAJOR clue !!

 

Looks like the 7000 series are heading first to the BLUE AND GREEN lines !!

 

Check out video Time stamp 0:46       The line route map inside has the "Blue line" and next a GREEN line on them 

 

Also first time I ever seen "Howard" sign with a blue colored background lol 

 

Video Credit goes to youtube user: Transitlife NYC

 

It was a test.  There is NO EVIDENCE HERE to suggest the Blue and Green Line will get these cars first.  That doesn't mean they can't  but the video suggests nothing. 

[chitowndude84 15]

A friendly request:😎

 

Anyone who ACTUALLY viewed the video. Please feel free to share your thoughts of those line maps inside the cars on the Advertisement boards 

 

IMO 7000's on the BLUE line would make sense to help retire the remaining 2600 series  ???

 

Dave

[chicagocubs6323 252]

44 minutes ago, chitowndude84 said:

A friendly request:😎

 

Anyone who ACTUALLY viewed the video. Please feel free to share your thoughts of those line maps inside the cars on the Advertisement boards 

 

IMO 7000's on the BLUE line would make sense to help retire the remaining 2600 series  ???

 

Dave

I've caught these trains various times the past week or two.  They have strip maps for all the lines inside, and they're outdated maps.  The train will be testing on all 8 rail lines for 1 year.  As of now there's no proof of where the cars will be assigned to.