Insert Loud Circus Type Music Here

By Jocelyn Geboy in News on Jan 25, 2007 8:00PM

There was a story in the Chicago Tribune yesterday regarding some temporary changes in service on the Brown Line this weekend that we wanted to pass along. We had to read it several times to figure out exactly what it was we needed to tell you. Psst ... Tribune! Leave the CTA stories to Hilkevitch, will ya?

Anyway, the deal is this: From early Saturday morning (1 a.m.) to early Monday morning (5 a.m.), the northbound Brown Line is going to share the Red Line track at the Fullerton stop.
Reason? CTA is putting "a newly constructed northbound platform and track into service in preparation for Brown Line renovations later this year." We're thinking it should have read that they're "preparing to put the platform into service for the Monday morning commute." Because that's when the Brown and Purple Lines will actually stop there.
The old station will still be in use for the Red Line, and it will be connected somehow to allow for transfers between the new lines. So, it sounds like there might actually be a chance you could miss your train connection now, instead of getting off one train and getting on to another. Blah.

As far as this weekend goes, they claim that "train schedules will not be disrupted for passengers on the Brown and Red Lines." However, just a few paragraphs later it says, the "northbound Brown Line will be unable to stop at the Diversey station during these hours." But it *will* be able to stop at Armitage and Wellington? That seems odd. Only Diversey gets the shaft? It's going to be on the Brown Line track for Armitage, jump over to the Red to skip Diversey, go back to the Brown to stop at Wellington, and the back to the Red Line track to stop at Fullerton? ???? **Or, Belmont, we mean? We kind of goofed up the order, missing Fullerton entirely after Armitage. So, as is pointed out in the comments, the only Red Line track the Brown Line will share is going to be at Fullerton, it seems, and fDiversey is out of commission for the Brown Line headed northbound this weekend. So much for people not having service interrupted, though. We hope that clears things up.

One more note. They are also opening a temporary station entrance at Sedgwick starting Monday morning that will be at Hudson Street. So, if you are bleary eyed and confused, Sedgwick's not closed, it's just a little further on down the road, one block west.

Image via smussyolay