CTA Rolls Out New Train Cars
By Marcus Gilmer in News on Apr 20, 2010 2:20PM
Those new train cars the CTA is hoping to soon begin using to replace old, outdated cars are getting their first run with passengers this week on the Red Line. Tracy "Fletch" Swartz checked out the new cars yesterday and passengers seemed to be down with the new layout. Lonnie Hester said, "It was a really smooth ride" while Kenya Atwater told Swartz of the new seats, "They're not all bunched up. You don't have to wake someone up to get off the train." Other amenities - such as security cameras and signs informing riders of the next stop - were hits. The new seat layout, however, has some skeptical. One rider told the Sun-Times that there could be more fights due to inadvertent touching on the center-facing side-by-side seats - "I think they had skinny people in mind when they made these seats. You're going to see a lot of arguments."
If you're interested in catching the new trains for yourself, here's a schedule from CTA Tattler that should be in effect over the next four weeks, Monday through Friday. And the CTA also has a write up on the new 5000-series cars here.