I rode the Pink Line this morning

Today at 4AM the inaugural scheduled Pink Line train departed 54/Cermak for the Loop. Some 4 hours later I had my first experience riding this line. I boarded at Washington/Wells. The first thing I noticed was the bodies of the 2-car train were painted pink. Unfortunately, unlike the glossy sharp-looking signage and painted stripes at the stations showing which lines stop there, the train cars looked like dried out Pepto-Bismol. Blech! The next thing was turning west from Wells onto Lake. Never did that before! Between Clinton and Ashland we rode at fairly high speed -- pretty cool. The turn from Lake onto the Paulina Connector and taking that to the junction with the Blue line was also a first for me. The remainder of the trip was much faster than the last time I rode the Blue/Cermak branch before it was rebuilt.

Some observations: They were running 2-car trains today and I read 4-car trains will be the norm on weekdays. I don't think that's enough. On this morning's return from 54/Cermak to the Loop the train became SRO and a tight squeeze very quickly. It filled up with families and regular patrons -- not just transit buffs like me (there were a few of us to be sure!). There's still confusion about the the change in service at some stations. For example, at Polk, several passengers insisted on waiting for the Blue Line train even though our train operator kept telling them the Blue Line no longer ran over this segment on Sundays. After the 180-day experiment is complete, assuming the Pink Line stays, there needs to be a formal connection made between the Pink and Blue routes (sounds like a maternity ward!) near the Medical Center station as well as a new station near the United Center.

I also noted for the first time free transfers available between Brown, Orange, Pink, and Purple lines at Library/State elevated and the Red Line subway station at Jackson similar to the transfer setup at State(L)/Lake(subway). For some reason, they did not do something similar with the Blue Line subway station at Jackson even though it's almost an identical setup.

All-in-all it was a good day to ride the trains.

orangeline wrote:They were running 2-car trains today and I read 4-car trains will be the norm on weekdays

The trains had been expanded to four cars when I rode on it this afternoon, and it was pretty interesting to ride on a 2200-series car on the Loop! That, along with the long-awaited ride on the Paulina connector in revenue service were the highlights of today's trip. And as expected, railfans and transit buffs were out in force, and I managed to strike up a friendly conversation with a few.

If Blue line trains are indeed completely removed from the Pink line after the six month experiment, a permanent transfer station to the Blue Line at Medical Center makes sense, but you'd want to put it as close as possible to the long pedestrian walkway leading from Paulina to the station. With the current layout in the area, that might be a bit dicey, but I do agree that a United Center station along the Paulina segment would have great potential, especially since events are held there year-round...

orangeline wrote:Some observations: They were running 2-car trains today and I read 4-car trains will be the norm on weekdays. I don't think that's enough.

You're right, it's not enough. They run those "two-car specials" on off-peak times on the Green line and both cars are always packed by the time the get to the loop.

And is it even legal for the CTA to run the 2200s on the Pink line? IIRC, there was a clause in the contract between the CTA and the city that stated that they could only be used on expressway-median lines, since the city paid for those railcars and also paid for the grading of the expressway lines.

And is it even legal for the CTA to run the 2200s on the Pink line? IIRC, there was a clause in the contract between the CTA and the city that stated that they could only be used on expressway-median lines, since the city paid for those railcars and also paid for the grading of the expressway lines.

I was wondering the same thing.

byte wrote:And is it even legal for the CTA to run the 2200s on the Pink line? IIRC, there was a clause in the contract between the CTA and the city that stated that they could only be used on expressway-median lines, since the city paid for those railcars and also paid for the grading of the expressway lines.

Three years ago, CTA was seriously considering an order of new cars to replace the 2200's, since it had already been over a decade since the cars were rehabbed. But fine points regarding details of the procurement such as specs and (more importantly) bid solicitation had yet to be finalized, and the delays regarding such became longer and more protracted. Meanwhile, at this time, the Douglas rehab was in full gear, plans for the Brown line capacity expansion project were being finalized, and the Circle line plan was also being hatched, and it was unclear at the time precisely how many cars would be needed for the revised service plans, especially since the Brown line project centered around the use of eight-car trains. As a precaution against further procurement delays, the CTA board members successfully lobbied the City of Chicago to waive the "expressway-only" stipulation for the 2200's, which allowed CTA to use Illinois First Funds to rehab the cars for a second time, and would thus allow the cars to run anywhere in revenue service on CTA's system...