Work associated with the Blue Line Dearborn Subway Slow Zone project nears completion with the last line cut scheduled for this weekend. Rail service between the Blue Line’s Clark/Lake and UIC-Halsted stations temporarily will be suspended from 10 p.m. Friday, December 11 until 4 a.m. Monday, December 14, due to track replacement work in the south end of the Dearborn subway.
Bus shuttles will operate as a substitute for rail service making stops adjacent to the Clark/Lake, Washington, Monroe, Jackson, LaSalle, Clinton and UIC-Halsted stations. Southbound buses will travel along Clark and Van Buren and northbound buses will operate via Harrison and Dearborn.
Due to the temporary closure of the northbound lanes along Halsted, shuttle buses will be rerouted from the Halsted entrance of the UIC-Halsted station. Customers can board northbound shuttle buses at a near side service stop on Harrison at Halsted and southbound shuttle buses at the near side stop on Van Buren at Halsted.
Both the Clark/Lake and UIC-Halsted stations are accessible to customers with disabilities.
Trains will operate normally from Forest Park to UIC-Halsted and from O’Hare to Clark/Lake. Customers are advised to allow extra travel time.
Since April, crews have been replacing deteriorated wooden half ties with concrete half ties, running rail and contact (third) rail to remove emerging slow zones and help prevent the creation of new slow zones.
The first two phases of the current project were completed six weeks earlier than originally anticipated due to improvements in how the work was sequenced. Trains have resumed normal speeds from Division to Clark/Lake as a result, allowing riders to experience faster travel times.
Upon completion of the third and final phase, more than 39,000 feet of track will have been replaced just north of the Division station to just south of the UIC-Halsted station.
In the coming weeks, Blue Line trains operating between the Clark/Lake and UIC-Halsted stations will be subject to late night single tracks while crews complete remaining detail work associated with the project.
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