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While walking downtown yesterday, we noticed a sign at the Washington stop on the 
Red Line that said it’d be closed due to construction. Maybe we’ve got CTA Fatigue, but we shrugged it off and expected it’d be only closed for the weekend.
Folks, reading really is fundamental.
Later that day, friend of Chicagoist and Chicago Transit Status webmaster Tony Coppoletta e-mailed us a link to a CTA press release that says starting at midnight on Monday, October 23, the station will be closed for up to two years. Transfers from the Blue Line at Washington will not be allowed; you’ll have to transfer at Jackson instead. Customers who need elevator access will need to board at the Jackson Red Line stop.
Tony clarifies how this will affect most riders and tries to see the bright side:
“It actually only closes one entrance to the State Street Subway, which will be the Washington-Madison entrance. There are entrances on both adjacent blocks —Madison-Monroe entrance leads to the Monroe stop. Randolph-Washington normally serves both Lake and Washington, being right between the two stops, but will remain open and simply lead people only down to the Lake stop."
Why is the closure taking place at all? Blame it on the construction of Kruesi's Kastle, the “superstation” being built at Block 37 that no has asked for but the CTA is required to build now that they’ve received funding for it.
In other CTA news, the agency will issue $275 million in bonds so that they can purchase new buses and side-facing rail cars. We’ve written about the buses before, which will be “short buses” that are easier to navigate. You offered your thoughts on the side-facing rail cars here.
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Wait, it takes them something like three years to move on the brown line renovation even after they've gotten the funding, but this thing (properly mentioned as something not only nobody asked for, nobody even wants it) hits the ground running.
I seems to me that Kruesi would prefer it if nobody used the CTA (except maybe a few tourists going around the loop like some sort of amusement ride) as that would make his job a whole lot easier.
I can't wait for the sidecars, the configuration as it stands is way too clunky and space-consuming.
Yeah sidecars... What they can't take the seats out of the cars they already have now and rearange them? They have to buy new ones? Load of crap.
2 years...jesus christ. when it's done, it better look like the Lake Street stop at the very least.
From the release:
"Construction to modify the State Street subway platform for connecting tunnels and tracks that will link the Red and Blue Line subways and connect them to the planned rapid transit station at 108 N. State Street..."
Nothing in there about rehabbing the station itself. You'd assume that they'd remodel it while doing all this work but you know what happens when you assume...
WTF - It doesn't take TWO YEARS to install lightbulbs - the one item the Washington stop is lacking.
But, well, when they get it lit up it's just going to expose the filthy walls, floors, ceiling, etc. I'd love for the EPA to do some tests down there, I'm sure there's enough bad things down there to make us wear face masks just like they do in Japan WHERE IT'S 100X CLEANER THAN HERE.
Anyone remember those advertisements for a local hospital that said something like "Enjoy your health, another train will be along soon?"
What was the exact phrase? It was always hilarious to me considering I was standing underground trying not to breath and ingest the air down there.
Also, via Beachwood Reporter, a letter in the Sun-Times that addresses the many problems with the CTA as of late.
What kills me is at the North/Clybourn station they have exposed wires with lightbulbs strung up on the ceiling. Any where else this would be a code violation even if it is temporary.
Just a note to NSH:
First, CTA needs to buy new cars regardless of any benefit to a seating rearrangement. The entire 2200-series (the ones with the "blinker" doors that swing open) has been in service something like ten years beyond their design-life. The things are way past their life expectancy--it's just a good thing CTA knows how to design and maintain a rail fleet (although, as one would expect on the 2200s, they are increasingly problematic and do need to be phased out).
The 2400s, which are used on Green and Purple, are also in need of replacement and require a lot of maintenance to keep them running due to their age. CTA used to be able to buy new rolling stock every few years, but it just doesn't work that way anymore.
Second, arranging the seats longitudinally isn't just as simple as moving them around. As I understand it, underneath the solid flooring we walk on in the car, there's some sort of metal support grid for the seats to be bolted onto. Move the seats anywhere else, and they're not going to be very securely fastened because the grid is only where it needs to be.
So, if what I've heard is correct, the only way to do it on existing cars would be to tear the entire floor out of the body of each car and completely reconstruct it.
It just makes more sense for CTA to wait until the next batch is in.
Thanks Tony for wrecking my comment with your "sensible" response. Sheesh!
Fire Kruesi!!!!!!!!!!!!!
hey Tony, off-topic question for you.. any idea why the purple line only runs six cars? i take it whenever possible coming home, and the thing's always jam packed by the time it gets to washington & wells. seems like it would make so much more sense to run eight cars, especially with its sporadic timetable.
geekgrrl -
I can't claim to have Tony's breadth of knowledge, but I can answer your question. The issue is the length of the platforms on the Purple Line. Like the Brown Line, the Purple Line platforms aren't long enough to accommodate 8-car trains.