12/13/01
Weekday service improvements will begin Monday, December 17, on the CTA's Purple, Red, Blue, Yellow and Brown Lines. The improvements are designed to provide more efficient service to CTA customers.
Purple Line Express: Under a six-month experimental plan, service to the Loop will begin an hour earlier during morning rush periods and operate an hour later in afternoon rush periods to improve service for customers traveling to jobs in downtown Chicago, and for reverse commuting to the northern suburbs.
The first Purple Line Express will leave Linden at 5:24 a.m., will arrive at the Merchandise Mart southbound at 6:05 a.m., and return to Linden at 6:55 a.m. instead of at 8:01 a.m. During afternoon rush periods, the last train will leave Linden at 6:28 p.m., arrive at the Merchandise Mart southbound at 7:09 p.m., and return to Linden at 8:00 p.m. instead of at 7:06 p.m.
Red Line: More trains will operate in morning and afternoon rush periods. Also, during off-peak periods from about 9:45 a.m. until 1:45 p.m., and again from about 8 p.m. until midnight, trains will operate every 7? minutes instead of 10 minutes apart in both directions.
Blue Line: Midday trains will operate more frequently, leaving the terminals at Forest Park and 54th/Cermak every 15 minutes instead of every 20 minutes from about 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., and leaving O'Hare every 7? minutes instead of 10 minutes apart. This will effectively provide weekday intervals of 7? minutes or less between trains leaving O'Hare from 5:30 a.m. until midnight.
Yellow Line: Midday and evening service will be improved, with trains running every 12 minutes instead of 15 minutes apart between 9:30 a.m. and 3:00 p.m. From 8 p.m. until service ends around 10 p.m., trains will run every 15 minutes instead of 20 minutes apart.
Brown Line: More frequent midday service will operate weekdays, leaving Kimball every 10 minutes instead of 12 minutes apart between about 10:30 a.m. and 1:00 p.m., providing levels of service to the Loop comparable to the Green Line during that period.
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