I rather doubt it. BART trains a much larger, have relatively cushy seats which don't face the aisle. To me, these look more like New York City subway trains.

I'd guess the line in the picture (which is the ORD line) since that's the line they would want to show off and which necessitates the most reliable trains.

The articles detail some of the additional changes, including flat-screen TV monitors that give the train's location on the route, the next station and travel time estimates; a new traction system to provide faster and smoother rides and onboard technology to diagnose mechanical problems on trains.

I think the renovated stations are quite nice. I'm told that some of the new brown line stations are quite spectacular. They're doing track renovations all over the system, so I think that shouldn't be a long term issue either.

The one thing I agree with you about, is the failure to keep the trains and stations clean. Some of the new money should be devoted to custodial staff.

Why would the Blue Line have a necessity for reliable trains over the Red Line as the system's busiest?

Just my opinion. It serves O'Hare and is the first experience with the city for a lot of people. You may be correct.

As mentioned a little earlier, I think the Blue Line getting new cars first has more to do with it still having the last of the old 2200 cars (the ones with accordion doors). It's a bit of a pain, because they can't use those in any short trains since they're not handicapped accessible. So, they can't be rotated into overnight trains like the other cars can.

If the CTA wants to better the experience for visitors, they should start with fixing up the ORD station. Looks like a dim unfinished basement to me.

The architect, Helmut Jahn, might disagree. ;)

I remember reading about the ORD blue line station in some Chicago architecture/history book type thing. Haven't been in there in a while but does the CTA need to change light bulbs and wash the floors & walls? They have a habit of forgetting to do this and it usually makes a world of difference.

They do a decent maintenance job at ORD, but they have that black rubbery flooring (I don't know what they call it). It could stand to be replaced. It just is not a bright station.

I just got back from Chicago this evening after being out there about a week. It looks like they are doing a pretty good job at updating and cleaning up some of the stop in the tunnel for the red and blue lines, but there is still some work to be done. On a side note today when catching the blue line over by Jackson the CTA was hanging up some billboard backings on the walls and one of the backings was laying on the floor in the middle of the passenger walkway down at the tracks. The mister accidentally stepped on one and one of the CTA guys almost started yelling at him. I yelled back at the guy that it was an accident the mister didn't see it and if he didn't want it walked on then to move the damn thing or shut the eff up :mad:

What's the latest on the blue line?
Are they still doing the shuttle bus thing on the weekends?

The CTA website hasn't been updated in a while.... :rolleyes:

No, the work can't be done over the winter so no shuttle buses until the construction season rolls back around. (What is this "spring" you speak of?)

Check the customer alerts page linked from the front page, updated almost daily. When they go back to doing busses, it's usually published beforehand on that page.

http://yourcta.com/news/whatsnewA.wu

The CTA is about to alter Blue Line service, but it should have very little effect on O'Hare passengers. Basically, after the Blue Line travels from O'Hare into downtown, it heads out to the west side. For years, the Blue Line split into two west side branches. Starting next month, that split will no longer take place. Basically this means that people heading from O'Hare to stations along the 54th/Cermak branch will no longer have a one-seat ride. Service to those stations will still be available with a free transfer in the loop.
And more imporantly for the purpose of this thread, service between O'Hare and downtown will not be altered.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/l...,2412337.story

For all intents and purposes, this service was eliminated a couple of years ago with the introduction of the Pink Line which took most passengers to 54th/Cermak. This service was only available during rush hours, although I moved near the blue line more than a year ago and never saw a train bound for 54/Cermak. Almost all trains ran from O'Hare to Forest Park. Now all of them will.

The blue line seems slightly faster, but still not great.

My last 2 trips from LaSalle to ORD took 60 minutes, pretty much on the dot. The problem is that the last spurt from Jefferson Park to O'hare took 30 of those 60 minutes.

Inbound has been taking 50 minutes to LaSalle.

I think that you are probably referring to Jefferson Park. Jackson Park is on the south side at 6400 south on the lakefront - which is not to be confused with the Jackson Blue Line station in the Loop.