Transit Geek: Chicago
Apr. 17th, 2006 06:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dmazeI'm getting ready to head home after a week of visiting family in Chicago. In the process I got to visit some of the local public transit. The CTA runs trains to and from downtown Chicago (the famous "loop"). Where anything MBTA is "the T", anything CTA is "CTA" and not "the El", at least in publicity material. Maps and signs referencing particular train stops here have the letter "T" in a circle. Boston: 1; Chicago: 0.
The Loop is interesting for all being flat-switched. A couple of trains run downtown in subway, but the elevated trains wind up crossing over each other. This led to a delay at the southeast corner of the Loop where we wanted to turn left, another train wanted to turn left ahead of us, and a third train wanted to go straight, all through the same T intersection.
There seems to be only one kind of El car, though they come in different vintages. These are roughly like a T Blue Line car in size and shape. Third rail, cab-signalled. There are a couple of grade crossings on the CTA Blue Line in Cicero, but the El otherwise seems to run entirely on reserved rights-of-way. Interlockings are frequent, and labelled both with names and with signs pointing out "interlocking home signal". There are full stop announcements (though they might not be fully automated); there's also an automated announcement if the train winds up stopped at a signal.
We also randomly encountered the CTA's TV show flipping through channels. This mentioned that interlocking towers were generally manned (!). It also mentioned that 1100 cars ran during rush hour, which I believe is more than the T has on all lines combined.
Chicago also has lots of commuter rail. I'm not going to comment much on it (didn't even ride it this trip), except to mention that there are four stations in Chicago, Union Station (North Central, Milwaukee North and West) is kind of a dump, but the northernmost entrance to it is kitty-corner from the Oglivie Transportation Center (UP North, West, and Northwest), which is actually kind of nice if modern. (But...wasn't the concept of a union station that there wouldn't be a separate station a block away?)
The Loop is interesting for all being flat-switched. A couple of trains run downtown in subway, but the elevated trains wind up crossing over each other. This led to a delay at the southeast corner of the Loop where we wanted to turn left, another train wanted to turn left ahead of us, and a third train wanted to go straight, all through the same T intersection.
There seems to be only one kind of El car, though they come in different vintages. These are roughly like a T Blue Line car in size and shape. Third rail, cab-signalled. There are a couple of grade crossings on the CTA Blue Line in Cicero, but the El otherwise seems to run entirely on reserved rights-of-way. Interlockings are frequent, and labelled both with names and with signs pointing out "interlocking home signal". There are full stop announcements (though they might not be fully automated); there's also an automated announcement if the train winds up stopped at a signal.
We also randomly encountered the CTA's TV show flipping through channels. This mentioned that interlocking towers were generally manned (!). It also mentioned that 1100 cars ran during rush hour, which I believe is more than the T has on all lines combined.
Chicago also has lots of commuter rail. I'm not going to comment much on it (didn't even ride it this trip), except to mention that there are four stations in Chicago, Union Station (North Central, Milwaukee North and West) is kind of a dump, but the northernmost entrance to it is kitty-corner from the Oglivie Transportation Center (UP North, West, and Northwest), which is actually kind of nice if modern. (But...wasn't the concept of a union station that there wouldn't be a separate station a block away?)
