Forest Park Branch Rebuild
Coming soon: Faster, better and more accessible West Side rapid transit service
The Forest Park Branch Rebuild is a multi-year, multi-phased investment to make service along the Blue Line’s Forest Park Branch faster, safer, more reliable and accessible for riders.
About the Forest Park Branch Rebuild
Much of the infrastructure along the Forest Park Branch of the Blue Line is original, dating back to 1958, when Dwight D. Eisenhower was President. While we have performed routine maintenance and made modest improvements over the last six decades, the infrastructure is far beyond its useful life and needs replacement or significant upgrades to address issues impacting day-to-day service, including:
Less than 30 percent (or 4 out of 11) of the rail stations along the branch are vertically accessible to people who use mobility devices.
Overall speed and reliability of service has declined, with nearly 80 percent of the branch categorized as restricted “slow zones,” requiring trains to operate at drastically reduced speeds for safety.
Under the Forest Park Branch Rebuild, we will rebuild a total of seven (7) rail stations to make them meet modern accessibility guidelines; replace the entire trackbed and drainage system along the branch; and upgrade the traction power system to support the electrical needs of modern railcars to meet current and future ridership demands.
We continue to work on securing funding needed to rebuild the entire Forest Park Branch. As funding becomes available, details regarding future phases of the Forest Park Branch Rebuild will be announced.
Read the full release at:
transitchicago.com
Current CTA News
CTA secures funding for West Side transit improvement design, construction
The funding will support further design work on the Forest Park Branch Rebuild project and upgrades to the Division/Austin bus turnaround. The Chicago Transit Board has authorized a pair of intergovernmental agreements with the Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) and with the city of Chicago that will fund transit infrastructure improvements across the city’s West Side.
I-290 Eisenhower Expressway/Blue Line Corridor project gets boost
Illinois Department of Transportation, the Chicago Transit Authority and the Chicago Metropolitan Planning Agency forge new partnership to invest in corridor. A shared goal of a modernized and improved I-290 Blue Line Corridor is advancing with action taken today to invest in a corridor development office (CDO).
Durbin, Duckworth, Quigley Announce More Than $300 Million In Federal Funding For Transportation Infrastructure Improvements In Chicago
U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), and U.S. Representative Quigley (D-IL-05) today announced $305,467,517 in federal funding through the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Mega Program. With this federal funding, the Illinois Department of Transportation will receive $209,877,984 for the Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency (CREATE) Program and $95,589,533 for the I-290/IL171 (1st Avenue) Interchange Project. These projects will aim to reduce traffic delays, increase rail junction safety, and improve mobility throughout Chicago.
I-290 Eisenhower Expressway/Blue Line Corridor project gets boost
llinois Department of Transportation, the Chicago Transit Authority and the Chicago Metropolitan Planning Agency forge new partnership to invest in corridor.
A shared goal of a modernized and improved I-290 Blue Line Corridor is advancing with action taken today to invest in a corridor development office (CDO).