Awesome video as always! Let's hope management realizes how packed the Pink Line gets nowadays so that they can run 6 car trains during rush hour. It's always a pleasure making videos with you!
6-car trains would be excellent! I've been living on the Pink Line since 2010, and it's clear that some stations get packed during peak hours. Many of the Pink Line stops are in densely populated areas (80K+ residents), yet we're still dealing with just 4-car trains.
I work at cta, and the commonly cited reason for the short trains on the pink line is due to the high number of grade crossings. Since the pink line crosses so many streets, including cicero ave, which is a major N-S corridor, they want to minimize time spent holding up traffic. Since the line doesn't necessitate larger trains, they run short ones to limit crossing times.
That sounds to me like a ✨bad excuse✨ The other lines have crossings, the time difference between a 4 or a 6 car train is negligible, especially at speed, and a long train has more contact points with the third rail while crossing.
@@Thom-TRA Thats an easy knee jerk reaction and I get it, I thought the same at first. We all love public transit, and it is often overlooked. But transportation as a whole is a pretty complex balance between different modes especially in a city. I think your logic makes sense for basically every other grade crossing, but Cicero Ave is part of IL route 50, which is a major piece of infrastructure that's critical to shipping of goods, as well as transportation via both bus and car, and those grade crossing wait times can really stack up. I also hesitate to call this reasoning an "excuse," since it isn't really one, I think it's pretty sound reasoning, especially when adding another married pair to the consist adds almost no monetary cost. It's easy to point fingers but transportation is a careful game of balancing different modes and it's impossible to get everything we want without someone else losing, just have to find the medium. Besides, causing additional delays on a state highway is not going to improve any driver/trucker's opinion, and will likely only foster resentment. Overall, doesn't make much sense considering the pink line doesn't see much crowding anyway.
@@cameron5980 my friend, I know you’re an intern at the CTA and think your job is the coolest thing ever, but don’t call my logic a “knee jerk reaction.” You are way overthinking this. I used to be in the business of shipping goods in Illinois. If our massive lobby had an issue with the Cicero crossing we would have done something. Think of all the major Illinois highways that cross busy freight lines that can be closed for hours. The Pink line runs so infrequently (which is probably why ridership is so low, since it’s a pain to use) that the extra few seconds are meaningless.
@@cameron5980 who at CTA told you the reason for 4 car trains is because of the grade crossings? An 8 car train would only last a couple more seconds to clear the crossing with the cab signal limit being 35mph in that area. It's not a big deal. The Blue Line ran 8 car trains on the Douglas branch before 2008.
The student of the school that was granted the right to name the line said "Everyone is interested when something is pink. You always want to check it out". I must admit this is right!
Riding trains for the first time this year to see a bunch of college football/basketball stadiums around the country and discovering this channel was perfect. Love the depth of these videos. The depth in particular is what makes these so compelling to watch. These totally could've been 30-minute episodes on cable tv that I would've watched religiously growing up in the 2000s.
We enjoy all of your videos, but the ones about Chicago are particularly awesome to us since we live here. We have learned so much about our transit system here from you. We are proud that we have both brown and pink lines here and we remember when the pink was blue. And all of the other information, videos, and research into this was absolutely awesome!!! Thank you!!!
Very enjoyable. I might be from Boston, and hence a MBTA fan, but I always enjoy visiting Chicago for the CTA. The fact that there is a CTA Santa is just amazing.
I live about 4 blocks down from 54th Cermak stop. Crazy how back then I used the train to go to unity back when I was still going to to school right next to the stop and now im using it to go to work in the loop. Man time flies but I love the good early travel of the cta
14:24 Sometimes there are six-car Pink Line trains running, at least at rush hours. There's also very limited eight car service in the form of two trains of 5000 series stock that are loaned to the Blue Line during weekday rush hours.
There’s no six car pink trains. And the 5000 series that run on the blue line run out of service until Racine. There’s no regularly scheduled service longer than 4 cars.
Hi Thom... Another fun and informative video. You're definitely my go to UA-camr for trains and busses and other forms of urban transit. As an NYCT subway Train Operator, I'm always hoping you'll capture the operating cabs so I can see the layout of the controls... The Pink line Train Operators on the 8 car consists have to be constantly mindful of the length of their trains when rounding curves on the "El" and when making station stops... When I used to work my RDO's, if I worked the M line I had stop at the 8 car marker and it was nerve racking because it's the same equipment(R160's)as the F line except I make 10 car stops there... Thanks, L8er ☮️
What a great video!!! I thoroughly enjoy all of your videos. I wish you were living back in Chicago again. I also like your narration. Wish I could've met you in person when you where here. And keep up the good work.
Great video! I particularly liked the way you multi-tasked the discussion of Pink Line history with the video of the trip. Of the old Met branches, the Douglas Park branch was always kind of a stepchild. The last to be built, the closest to the stinky old Stock Yards and the South Branch of the river, it always had its own charm and character. It's great to see it having a bit of a renaissance as the Pink Line. To me, the most exciting part of the line is where it dives through holes cut in hospital buildings on the west side.
Back in 2021, when Riotfest was being held, the Pink Line was heavenly bottled as CTA probably didn't expected the festival to have so much people that year at Douglass Park, they still only used 4 car trains for the Pink at that time and made getting people back to where they needed to go much slower, the year after they planned ahead and brought over 6-8 car trains to help with movement out of 2022 Riotfest when it was at Douglass Park. Since Summer Smash and RiotFest were moved to Seatgeek Stadium in Bridgeview this year, the Pink line will sadly wont see much use to get poeple home, i will howveer be praying for the Orange line to see how they will do
i took the pink line to riotfest this year since it was moved back! great view (although theres no shortage of that here in chicago) and everyone was very nice. it wasn't even that crowded- i've been on way, way worse blue line trains in terms of being crushed lol.
Other pink-colored lines: While not called the Pink Line, the Disneyland Resort Line in Hong Kong is colored pink on maps! The Disneyland Resort Line opened in 2005 for the opening of HKDL and has two stations, Sunny Bay and Disneyland Resort. Sunny Bay has a futuristic gateway look while Disneyland Resort station has Victorian-style architecture. These two have very different designs because it was done to make passengers feel like they are travelling through time between the fantasy world of the Disneyland Resort and the city (the jingles you hear in the train's announcements reflect this too). The line was also the first on the MTR to be automated, the South Island Line would become the second line eleven years later! Bangkok MRT's Pink Line is a monorail that opened in 2023, it's designed to link the northern areas of Bangkok and Nonthaburi. Shanghai Metro's Line 13 is pink-colored on maps and initially opened between Madang Road and Shibo Avenue in 2010 for Expo 2010, and has expanded since then. Besides the World Expo Museum, it serves important stations like West Nanjing Road interchange, Jinshajiang Road interchange for East China Normal University and Global Harbor, Shanghai Natural History Museum, and Site of the First CPC National Congress · Xintiandi interchange. On the Jaipur Metro in India, Jaipur has a Pink Line because Jaipur is known as the Pink City thanks to its architecture. Pink was once the color of hospitality, and when Queen Victoria's son Albert Edward (who would become King Edward VII) visited Jaipur in 1876, Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh II had the whole city painted pink to welcome the royals. In 1877, a law was passed stating any future buildings in Jaipur had to be painted the same color, and this law has remained! The Jaipur Metro's Pink Line opened in 2015 and connects Mansarovar with the Jaipur Junction railway station, Sindhi Camp interstate bus terminal, and Heritage Sites like Hawa Mahal, Jantar Mantar, and the City Palace.
If I remember right, one reason they did the pink line like this was to be able to adjust frequencies and capacities without impacting the blue line to O’Hare. I rode those 1 car Evanston shuttles when I was in college 40-something years ago. Evanston only was 25 cents, but you had to get an “ID check” for another 25 cents to travel to Howard and south in Chicago. A conductor collected them just before arriving at Howard. Enjoyed the video- thanks!
@@Thom-TRA it was just the CTA’s name for the ticket you purchased for the fare into Chicago- kind of like a transfer. It actually said “ID check” on the piece of paper. Back then I think the city of Evanston subsidized CTA services within the city. Only 25 cents instead of 50 cents.
I think I’ve seen that video with the 8-car pink line trains. One time I’ve been on one with six cars after attending a march for our lives protest. It must have been one of the reasons they had that many train cars and it was on my mom’s birthday one year.
Good job Thom. Felt good seeing my route and my terminal look so good. Perhaps the rehab of the Douglas route from Damen to Kedzie would be in another video. This is when the separated platforms became island platforms with no disruption to service from 2001 to 2003
I’ve heard you mention different train series a few times, 5000, 8000, 9000, etc. I would love to see a video covering the different trains in use on the CTA system and their differences.
I remember before covid there used to be 4 car trains between the brown, orange, purple and green lines during pre-rush hour. The red line used to do 4 cars during midnight times good old days
Pink Line goes through interesting geography. Around 18th and Damen the houses were raised or built one story above the ground to help will sewage issues when the city was raised in the late 19th century (See George Pullman's career start) At Cicero it passes the site of the former Western Union plant which had 45,000 workers making phone and phone equipment from 1905-1983. Only the plant tower is still visible as a shopping center replaced it after it closes. Also it courses the BNSF "racetrack" near Western Avenue
The Pink gets pretty crowded in the mornings heading to the Polk Station because of the Medical District there. I had to take the Pink Line to get a test at Rush Medical Center earlier this year and I was surprised how full the train got at 9am going away from the Loop. Lots of medical staff, medical students, as well as people like me going for some test or another. I am surprised they haven't put in a United Center station yet.
@bryanCJC2105, it's more like Wirtz and Reisdorf (the owners of the Blackhawks and Bulls respectively) want to keep making money off of their UC parking lots -- that's why the CTA will construct a Green Line station at Damen Ave. (& Lake St.) rather than a Pink Line station at Madison St.
Soo, if they ran an 8 car train, how does it work at the end of the line 54th/Cermak? The Northbound train must cross to the single platform at a switch in the mid-platform area, discharge passengers, then proceed Southbound to pick up passengers going inbound. If the switch is in the middle of the platform, how do 8 cars fit fully on the platform to discharge passengers?
Nice video. This year i spend a week in the German city of Stuttgart. A citytrip always means heavy use of public transport. Handy on the Stuttgart Stadtbahn was that on the information screens you can see if you have a long or a short train. On the platforms you can see were the long or short trains stop. No running needed.
Great video, but I really wish you would have mentioned the fact that the pink line goes right by the United Center but rather bizarrely there is no station there or anywhere else on the Paulina connector. It's a massive missed opportunity that oddly does not seem to have been discussed when that section of track was put back into revenue service. There used to be station at Madison, which would be perfect for serving the UC.
Because you didn't have any problem spending half the video complaining about the 4-car trains. Which I actually think is a valid point, but less of an issue than you're making it out to be.
@@mattanderson3452 only one person is complaining here and it’s not me. I merely just pointed out ridership doesn’t match capacity. If that’s complaining to you then I don’t know how you survive the internet.
@@Thom-TRA And I am merely pointing out that Madison would be a logical location for a station serving the United Center and that the lack thereof might be a noteworthy observation to make during your discussion of the Paulina connector.
Hey Tom, great video as always Interesting facts about the history of the pink line As you know from your recent visit to Pittsburgh, our light rail lines now have colors for names instead of actual names The difference is here in Pittsburgh. There are only three colors, red blue and silver as opposed to eight lines in Chicago. Prior to our light rail lines in Pittsburgh having colors they had both numbers and a letter as well as the name of the neighborhood that the train served
I completely understand. Here in Dallas, it’s getting rarer to see 3 car trains on the system as our cars are getting older and less available. The cars built for Dallas are a bit larger than the average LRV, so the usual 2 car consists are usually big enough for the ridership DART gets (sometimes it gets a bit packed during rush hour) but they use “3 packs” as we call them on days where ridership is expected to be massively higher than usual. The State Fair of Texas sees crazy ridership numbers for dart and not even a 3 pack every 10 minutes could handle that ridership. I love to see one outside of the fair months.
kudos, Thom, for another extremely interesting and informative video. This one has certainly whetted my appetite for a weekend of riding the L and having some Lou Malnati’s to go with it!
If you are interested, is there any chance you can experience the talking crosswalks in Michigan? I know some in the Grand Rapids area. College and Cherry has this polara navigator. In most cases, they don't always talk. They also have one on Division and Fulton. There is a message that if you hold down the pedestrian signal, they sometimes say wait to cross street, at street. However, that ain't the case. They have a machine gun-like sound on the button. Or, you can refer to them as rapid ticks. Those can be found on some EN2/N2 models. However, they don't have to be the same ones, as there is a mini version of them. They can be from models of INS to IDS. I'm not really sure about the difference between them, but mostly you can find one of them Campbell APS. If I'm not mistaken, South Bend has several of those crosswalks
I was In Chicago this weekend and this exact situation happened to me waiting for a pink link at the far end of the platform just for it to stop halfway down
Thom, what I don't understand is why no station was built on the pink line to accommodate the United Center. It seems to be only a block away. Am I getting the picture wrong?
A great video Thom. Exactly the kind of content which brought me to your channel in the first place. The right mix out of train spotting, history and commentary. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the circulator challenge, but this video here was highlight for me! Also, the L gives me some weird vibes. I looks modern and kinda run down and old fashioned at the same time. And the trains are if the New York Subway and the Kleinprofil-Lines of the Berlin U-Bahn had a baby.
BART in San Francisco uses colored lines on maps, but doesn’t identify them verbally as such. Instead, they’re identified by their destination/terminus. The G line in NYC once ran full-size trains but frequency was suboptimal. As the surrounding neighborhoods gentrified and more people began moving there, residents clamored for increased service, but there wasn’t enough rolling stock so the train lengths were halved. Now the line runs 6-car trains and there are signs directing passengers to the boarding area but some still end up running down the platform to board before the doors close.
@Thom-TRA So in the video then I realized I got a system map from c.T a that so I take it out of my Desk so I help me Help me to see where you are going on the pink line
I am actually surprised that a 24-hour pass is only $5, while in cities like Minneapolis with only two lines, it also costs $5 on weekdays and $4 on weekends. I finally started using light rails this year since COVID put a stop to it in 2020 for me.
I use to hate it when the orange line would cut down to 4 cars in the afternoon. I don't know why they would do it cause the people were always pack like sardines. 😤
If I look at historical pictures of the Chicago L, or think back to my memories of the L in the 1960s, most of the lines ran 2 car trains all day, perhaps expanding to 4 cars during rush hours. The purple and yellow lines even ran 1 car trains most of the time. The purple line had special cars built for one-person operation; at most stops (except Linden, Davis, and Howard) the operator turned around in his chair and faced the front door to collect fares at the stop; it was like a bus. Only the north-south line ran 8 car trains all day. I mention this just to ask what's changed? Are they running longer but less frequent trains to save costs? Or has ridership shot way up? Do you (or any of your viewers) know?
I’m sure the population of Chicago and thus ridership has grown. Not to mention the pace of automobile ownership has passed its peak since the 60s. But I’m sure others will know other reasons.
@@Thom-TRA Thanks, Thom! I know the population of the metropolitan area has grown, but I'm pretty sure that the population inside city limits has stayed about the same. So it's quite possible that suburbanites are driving in to outlying L stations (such as Dempster on the yellow line, Rosemont and Forest Park on the Blue line, and so on). Those stations are near freeways and have large parking lots. As to auto ownership within the city, that's a very interesting point--one that begs for more research. Thank you again for your very thoughtful reply!
I'm just imagining a sign taped in the operator's cab *"8 CARS!"* to remind them where to stop at each platform. I wonder what the incremental cost of operating each extra pair is.
I’m sure they needed a sticky note or something. And I’d imagine the costs aren’t much higher. Maybe slightly more electricity because of the weight but the labor costs are the same.
@@Thom-TRA you also have to account for the higher maintenance costs. Over time running more cars costs more money, which is the only good argument I've heard for why the Pink Line only runs 4 car trains (though rush hour could probably stand to use longer trains). I've heard that pre-covid the CTA used to add and remove train cars based on time of day to try and minimize maintenance costs. But I think they eventually determined that the extra labor needed constantly be adding and removing train cars in the yard exceeded the value of maintenance that was saved.
Actually, Chicago isn't the only one, the Mexico City subway does have a brown and pink line! Line 1 is the pink line and it's been around since it opened on September 4, 1969, but from Zaragoza to Chapultepec, and then it extended to Juanacatlan in 1970 and months later to Tacubaya and finally extended to Observatorio in 1972. And then in 1984, Line 1 extended again to Pantitlán to connect with Line 5, which is the yellow line. Then in 1987, Line 9, which is the brown line opened from Pantitlán to Centro Medico (Medical Central), and then in 1988, it extended to Tacubaya, where it meets Lines 7 (Orange Line) and Line 1 (Pink Line), but there are still plans to extend Line 9 to Observatorio to connect Line 1 again. Line 9 purpose is decongest passengers on Line 1 and serve as a express line between Tacubaya and Pantitlán. In other words, Chicago and Mexico City are the only two cities in North America that have brown and pink lines on their subway systems
Okay, listen closely to what I actually said. Chicago is the only city with a line _called_ the Pink line. Many other cities have pink colors on the map. LA has the K line. But the line in Mexico is _called_ Line 1. Not Pink Line. Chicago is the only city with a line that has the name Pink Line.
@@Thom-TRA oh! I get it now! Even though I live in Chicago, well Aurora, and I've been on every single subway in Mexico City when I go visit relatives. Been riding their subway since I was 7 years old, and I believe my first line was Line 6, which their red line from El Rosario to Martin Carrera, but got off at La Villa-Basilica to visit the Basilica of Guadalupe, and my second trip on the subway was from El Rosario to Zócalo/Tenochtitlán via lines 7 and 2 at Tacuba. And ever since then, been traveling and exploring other lines, except Line 12, the Golden Line. The Mexico City subway and the CTA are somewhat very similar to each other, especially at Pantitlán, because it sorta resembles Clark/Lake, so many transfers
another great video, Thom. I'm not familiar with the Chicago system, but your video and narration filled in the gaps. Thanks again. Btw, just curious if you've ever been to Steamtown NP in Scranton?
Being in NY, the whole variable length train thing is kinda wild to me. Outside the G, H, and overnight M, all trains run their max length at all times, be it 2 (S), 6(0), 8 (B, D, N, Q, W, J, L, M, Z), 10 (A, C, E, F, R, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), or 11 (7) cars.
United Center? Supposedly the owners of the United Center bought up a lot of parking surrounding the stadium which prevents a pink line stop from being constructed. That said, the new Damen green line station (opening in a few weeks) will be fairly close. There’s also some proposed redevelopment of United Center and some are hoping this will bring a pink line stop to the stadium.
I've seen two-car trains on the Green Line before; generally later in the evening like after 8 or 9pm or so. I don't know if they still run 'em that short, but if they don't... well, they used to.
That is the only part of cta I have never been on besides the Dan Ryan branch south of 35th. Any recommendations of things to do off of the pink line? I want to try it soon. Have you been from 35th-95th and if so, how is the ride?
There’s good tacos and food along the pink line. And Pilsen is a fun neighborhood. The red line south of 35th can be intense but still worth riding. 95th is a cool station.
@@Thom-TRA I’ve wanted to check out pilsen! And If I really wanted to go to 95th, it would probably have to be around morning rush, and I would sit in the front, I go to china town all of the time and even there it’s just so many people going in between the cars and selling who knows what, I once saw someone selling gun powder….
In San Jose before 2019 the tram lines are known by their final destination. However being a former operator and resident of San Jose for 30 years I still refer it by what's on the sign board.
Since you're talking about the Pink Line. Perhaps you heard about the new development plan around the United Center. It's about time there was a station along the Paulina Connector. It always made sense to have a station on Madison at least. Not to hijack the subject of this video.
That's why CTA made a Damen station on the Green Line which is actually a shorter walking distance to the United Center than a Madison Pink Line station. The proposal is just from a third party developer and not CTA.
@@ChicagolandTransit In which case if Damen on the Green is closer then that does make sense as well. I'm all for a CTA L connection to the U.C. area. I haven't read up fully on the private development proposal I will admit, saw a Madison station mentioned though it's still a city call I know.
There used to be a stop at Madison, but they tore it down in the 50s. As much as I would appreciate Damen/Lake being built, I don’t think it will be enough for the area.
One, you have to have extra cars and sets to utilize longer trains and two, to justify convenience with people wanting to catch them in the station and handling loads during the times the service is utilize at its heaviest. The city that I live, nyc has a few lines using cars under 10, the C train which has 8 cars due to low ridership and not having extra cars or set to justify but can be fix with the ongoing deliveriee of the r211, the J,L,M and Z have their routes and physical lines being unable to accommodate the platform lengths higher than 480 feet so they have no choice but to use 8 cars, shuttle trains only use half of the length compare to 10 car full sets and also SIR and the G train but like the C, the G can be improved since the route did had issues related to the train length
I'm honestly surprised the CTA hasn't started running longer trains on Pink, especially with President Dorval Carter outright saying he focused on capacity more than frequency. I can say for sure it's not an equipment issue as yards are full and the most unreliable trains tend to actually be the 7000's,the newest trainsets.
I brought the 4 car train issue up with CTA management when I was waiting on Morgan and was approached by one of the big wigs. I was told that this is not a goal due to ridership levels. Ridership would have to double in order for the Pink like to get 6 or 8 car trains all day. The only goal that CTA said was achievable was to have a pink line train average every 10 minutes 7 days a week, but the 4 car trains will remain for the foreseeable future. Per CTA it’s the 2nd least utilized line next to Yellow. Ridership on the short Evanston branch of the purple line averages more riders than the entire pink line outside the loop. This is per CTA management. I hate being packed like sardines on the Pink during the rush period and having to wait 10-15 minutes for the next packed train. Some days are better than others, but it’s something they need to look into.
My favorite line naming system is by letter. I think of numbers as being for bus routes, since there’s usually more than 26 bus routes in a city that wants/has a metro; and I think colors can be a bit restricting, since a system with many lines will run into the problem of running out of basic colors, plus it’s less friendly to colorblind people. While geographic names can be the easiest way of communicating where the line goes from locals, I think letters, numbers, or colors are much easier for people not familiar with the city, and can lead to long names, like the Market-Frankford, Shrewsbury (Now the St. Louis Blue Line), or Piccadilly.
As a red-green colorblind guy, I don't have much of an issue. I think the map colors might be a bit too similar in grayscale, but things are pretty clearly labeled with words. If Chicago gets to the point where we have to distinguish the eggshell line from the ecru line, we might have bigger problems. But I think there's plenty of room for expansion--black, gray, white, maroon, turquoise, ...
@@bsnow304 I don’t think being colorblind is such a huge issue that we need to get rid of all color names ever, so I would support Chicago keeping the colors; and most places either acknowledge the issue with a colorblind version of the map, or the system is so simple you shouldn’t have an issue in the first place. I just prefer letters more.
What an interesting line with a fascinating history. I still find it weird how the L has level crossings on the outer segments. Its too bad the system has such dismal frequencies though. I hope that can change with longer trains and better frequencies as the demand has been demonsrated to be there. It's a real shame how so many North American cities tore out so many buildings and neighborhoods just to build super expensive to build and maintain highways and parking lots , alll while increasing inequity, pollution, traffic deaths and worsening outcomes not to mention destroying their finances.
I think I might be in the minority here. As a person and a Chicagoan that has lived relatively near the Pink Line all my life, and has been using it even back when it was still the Blue Line, I honestly preferred it as the Blue Line to 54th/Cetmak. I miss when Blue Line trains ran through it. I think by far the biggest detriment from the change, is that the Pink Line doesn't run 24/7 like it did back when it was the Blue Line. Side note/fun fact: The Blue line is (or rather was, as as of the pandemic, it's schedule has changed) one of only two lines that run 24/7 at all times. The other one (and at this point, the ONLY one now) is the Red Line. One can only wonder why the Orange Line doesn't run 24/7, as it too services an international airport (Midway Airport). In a perfect Chicago, I feel *ALL* L lines should run 24/7. Also, I can confirm that the Pink Line stations 200% CAN service full size eight car trains, as back when Blue Line trains ran through it, they all had full fat eight car trains. It still to this very day feels off-putting to me, as someone who has used the Pink Line for the longest time, to see small four car trains running on the Pink Line when they used to have full on eight car trains back in the day. There is a bit of a silver lining though, as the Loomis ramp does still see some use from time to time. If there are problems on the tracks north of the Eisenhower and at, or near the Loop, Pink Line trains will sometimes get rerouted through the Loomis ramp and stop at Racine like the Blue Line trains used to do back in the day. After which they will pull foward past Racine, switch onto the westbound tracks on the other side, and return to Racine to pick up passengers bound for the Pink Line. Though this only happens once in a blue moon. Also, another thing that boggles my mind about the Pink Line, is how it has no stop on the Paulina Connector that services the United Center, nevermind the fact that the line runs DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF IT. You'd think that'd be a no brainer on the City's part. Also, for those of you that don't want to traverse the entire loop on the Pink Line heading back to 54th/Cermak, here's a little trick you can do to skip all that: take a green line train back towards Harlem and get off at any of the shared Pink/Green line stops (Morgan, Ashland, or Clinton) and then Take a Pink Line train bound for 54th/Cermak. This way, you can head back without having to go around the Loop! Neat!
Yeah the few times I ever tried to take a blue line train to O’Hare in the middle of the night, I had to call an Uber because it would be at least an hour before a train showed up. That’s not running all night in my book.
Could the Pink Line be the metro line with the most level crossings? There are commuter rail and tram lines that are branded as metro that might have more, but the Chicago El is almost universally recognized as rapid transit. I just looked it up and apparently the Yamanote has a level crossing? That's insane!
@@akis.4493 On a quick glance, OpenRailway shows 10 level crossings on the Cermak Branch (one of which is the one between the terminus and the yard). The Skokie Swift seems to have 7. Maybe I'm overlooking something.
Awesome video as always! Let's hope management realizes how packed the Pink Line gets nowadays so that they can run 6 car trains during rush hour. It's always a pleasure making videos with you!
Like said, couldn’t have done this without you!
Nice catches for the video!
Not just during rush hour but all while service lasts.
Dude I love your channel SO much.
6-car trains would be excellent! I've been living on the Pink Line since 2010, and it's clear that some stations get packed during peak hours. Many of the Pink Line stops are in densely populated areas (80K+ residents), yet we're still dealing with just 4-car trains.
I work at cta, and the commonly cited reason for the short trains on the pink line is due to the high number of grade crossings. Since the pink line crosses so many streets, including cicero ave, which is a major N-S corridor, they want to minimize time spent holding up traffic. Since the line doesn't necessitate larger trains, they run short ones to limit crossing times.
Because the most important goal of transit is to avoid inconveniencing drivers. Idiocy.
That sounds to me like a ✨bad excuse✨ The other lines have crossings, the time difference between a 4 or a 6 car train is negligible, especially at speed, and a long train has more contact points with the third rail while crossing.
@@Thom-TRA Thats an easy knee jerk reaction and I get it, I thought the same at first. We all love public transit, and it is often overlooked. But transportation as a whole is a pretty complex balance between different modes especially in a city. I think your logic makes sense for basically every other grade crossing, but Cicero Ave is part of IL route 50, which is a major piece of infrastructure that's critical to shipping of goods, as well as transportation via both bus and car, and those grade crossing wait times can really stack up.
I also hesitate to call this reasoning an "excuse," since it isn't really one, I think it's pretty sound reasoning, especially when adding another married pair to the consist adds almost no monetary cost. It's easy to point fingers but transportation is a careful game of balancing different modes and it's impossible to get everything we want without someone else losing, just have to find the medium.
Besides, causing additional delays on a state highway is not going to improve any driver/trucker's opinion, and will likely only foster resentment. Overall, doesn't make much sense considering the pink line doesn't see much crowding anyway.
@@cameron5980 my friend, I know you’re an intern at the CTA and think your job is the coolest thing ever, but don’t call my logic a “knee jerk reaction.” You are way overthinking this.
I used to be in the business of shipping goods in Illinois. If our massive lobby had an issue with the Cicero crossing we would have done something. Think of all the major Illinois highways that cross busy freight lines that can be closed for hours.
The Pink line runs so infrequently (which is probably why ridership is so low, since it’s a pain to use) that the extra few seconds are meaningless.
@@cameron5980 who at CTA told you the reason for 4 car trains is because of the grade crossings? An 8 car train would only last a couple more seconds to clear the crossing with the cab signal limit being 35mph in that area. It's not a big deal. The Blue Line ran 8 car trains on the Douglas branch before 2008.
Very nostalgic to see TRA content in Chicago again it's really good
Oh don’t worry, I have more
@Thom-TRA that's nice I will make sure I stay tuned
hey @@Thom-TRA I have some questions way did Cta pink line haves a 8 cars? 16:50
Maybe I am feeling homesick, but these videos always make me so happy
I’m glad to hear that
The student of the school that was granted the right to name the line said "Everyone is interested when something is pink. You always want to check it out". I must admit this is right!
That’s so cute
Riding trains for the first time this year to see a bunch of college football/basketball stadiums around the country and discovering this channel was perfect. Love the depth of these videos. The depth in particular is what makes these so compelling to watch. These totally could've been 30-minute episodes on cable tv that I would've watched religiously growing up in the 2000s.
This comment made my day. Especially when other people said this one was “too long.” Thank you!
We enjoy all of your videos, but the ones about Chicago are particularly awesome to us since we live here. We have learned so much about our transit system here from you. We are proud that we have both brown and pink lines here and we remember when the pink was blue. And all of the other information, videos, and research into this was absolutely awesome!!! Thank you!!!
This is wonderful as a lifelong CTA user and Chicagoan I appreciate it GREATLY.
Very enjoyable. I might be from Boston, and hence a MBTA fan, but I always enjoy visiting Chicago for the CTA. The fact that there is a CTA Santa is just amazing.
I live about 4 blocks down from 54th Cermak stop. Crazy how back then I used the train to go to unity back when I was still going to to school right next to the stop and now im using it to go to work in the loop. Man time flies but I love the good early travel of the cta
14:24 Sometimes there are six-car Pink Line trains running, at least at rush hours. There's also very limited eight car service in the form of two trains of 5000 series stock that are loaned to the Blue Line during weekday rush hours.
There’s no six car pink trains. And the 5000 series that run on the blue line run out of service until Racine. There’s no regularly scheduled service longer than 4 cars.
Awesome videos as always!!!! Keep up the good work!!
Thanks! Will do!
Hi Thom...
Another fun and informative video. You're definitely my go to UA-camr for trains and busses and other forms of urban transit.
As an NYCT subway Train Operator, I'm always hoping you'll capture the operating cabs so I can see the layout of the controls...
The Pink line Train Operators on the 8 car consists have to be constantly mindful of the length of their trains when rounding curves on the "El" and when making station stops...
When I used to work my RDO's, if I worked the M line I had stop at the 8 car marker and it was nerve racking because it's the same equipment(R160's)as the F line except I make 10 car stops there...
Thanks, L8er ☮️
What a great video!!! I thoroughly enjoy all of your videos. I wish you were living back in Chicago again. I also like your narration. Wish I could've met you in person when you where here. And keep up the good work.
I’m very content with living in DC and visiting Chicago occasionally
Great video! I particularly liked the way you multi-tasked the discussion of Pink Line history with the video of the trip.
Of the old Met branches, the Douglas Park branch was always kind of a stepchild. The last to be built, the closest to the stinky old Stock Yards and the South Branch of the river, it always had its own charm and character. It's great to see it having a bit of a renaissance as the Pink Line.
To me, the most exciting part of the line is where it dives through holes cut in hospital buildings on the west side.
Trains through buildings are always cool
Back in 2021, when Riotfest was being held, the Pink Line was heavenly bottled as CTA probably didn't expected the festival to have so much people that year at Douglass Park, they still only used 4 car trains for the Pink at that time and made getting people back to where they needed to go much slower, the year after they planned ahead and brought over 6-8 car trains to help with movement out of 2022 Riotfest when it was at Douglass Park.
Since Summer Smash and RiotFest were moved to Seatgeek Stadium in Bridgeview this year, the Pink line will sadly wont see much use to get poeple home, i will howveer be praying for the Orange line to see how they will do
i took the pink line to riotfest this year since it was moved back! great view (although theres no shortage of that here in chicago) and everyone was very nice. it wasn't even that crowded- i've been on way, way worse blue line trains in terms of being crushed lol.
Keep up the great work! Thanks to your channel, I went to DC Metrofest yesterday.
Hope you had fun!!!!
Other pink-colored lines: While not called the Pink Line, the Disneyland Resort Line in Hong Kong is colored pink on maps! The Disneyland Resort Line opened in 2005 for the opening of HKDL and has two stations, Sunny Bay and Disneyland Resort. Sunny Bay has a futuristic gateway look while Disneyland Resort station has Victorian-style architecture. These two have very different designs because it was done to make passengers feel like they are travelling through time between the fantasy world of the Disneyland Resort and the city (the jingles you hear in the train's announcements reflect this too). The line was also the first on the MTR to be automated, the South Island Line would become the second line eleven years later! Bangkok MRT's Pink Line is a monorail that opened in 2023, it's designed to link the northern areas of Bangkok and Nonthaburi. Shanghai Metro's Line 13 is pink-colored on maps and initially opened between Madang Road and Shibo Avenue in 2010 for Expo 2010, and has expanded since then. Besides the World Expo Museum, it serves important stations like West Nanjing Road interchange, Jinshajiang Road interchange for East China Normal University and Global Harbor, Shanghai Natural History Museum, and Site of the First CPC National Congress · Xintiandi interchange.
On the Jaipur Metro in India, Jaipur has a Pink Line because Jaipur is known as the Pink City thanks to its architecture. Pink was once the color of hospitality, and when Queen Victoria's son Albert Edward (who would become King Edward VII) visited Jaipur in 1876, Maharaja Sawai Ram Singh II had the whole city painted pink to welcome the royals. In 1877, a law was passed stating any future buildings in Jaipur had to be painted the same color, and this law has remained! The Jaipur Metro's Pink Line opened in 2015 and connects Mansarovar with the Jaipur Junction railway station, Sindhi Camp interstate bus terminal, and Heritage Sites like Hawa Mahal, Jantar Mantar, and the City Palace.
15:56 Ah classic Chicago backround noises of the city 😂. Thanks for the great and informative video as always Thom! 👍
Glad you enjoyed it!
If I remember right, one reason they did the pink line like this was to be able to adjust frequencies and capacities without impacting the blue line to O’Hare. I rode those 1 car Evanston shuttles when I was in college 40-something years ago. Evanston only was 25 cents, but you had to get an “ID check” for another 25 cents to travel to Howard and south in Chicago. A conductor collected them just before arriving at Howard.
Enjoyed the video- thanks!
What was the ID check for?
@@Thom-TRA it was just the CTA’s name for the ticket you purchased for the fare into Chicago- kind of like a transfer. It actually said “ID check” on the piece of paper. Back then I think the city of Evanston subsidized CTA services within the city. Only 25 cents instead of 50 cents.
I have worked on all the cta lines for construction.
During rush hours there is always 8 train cars. After then they use 4 cars during off hours.
That is outdated information. It hasn’t been like that for years.
Going to ARC Music Festival Labor Day weekend at Union Park. Hopefully the Pink and Green lines will be 8 cars for the weekend! 🙏🏻
I think I’ve seen that video with the 8-car pink line trains. One time I’ve been on one with six cars after attending a march for our lives protest. It must have been one of the reasons they had that many train cars and it was on my mom’s birthday one year.
My dad worked for CTA at 54th shop when it was still the Blue Line.
IF CTA Will Built an 10 to 12 Car CTA All Lines in The Future With Extended Accommodate Longer Platforms in the Chicago Subway 🚇❤😊😅
Yeah I rode the pink line on the first day it opened up. And I really honestly thought it was very neat that they created that line.
That’s cool you rode it opening day!
Good job Thom. Felt good seeing my route and my terminal look so good. Perhaps the rehab of the Douglas route from Damen to Kedzie would be in another video. This is when the separated platforms became island platforms with no disruption to service from 2001 to 2003
4 Car trains for a rapid transit line in such a large city is so bizarre! Anyways, the pink line has great history. Really cool.
I’ve heard you mention different train series a few times, 5000, 8000, 9000, etc. I would love to see a video covering the different trains in use on the CTA system and their differences.
Great suggestion!
*7000s also the 9000s are still in the design phase
Feels like how the g line in New York always has the short trains on long platforms
I rode the M this weekend and I was surprised those were only 4 cars long
I remember before covid there used to be 4 car trains between the brown, orange, purple and green lines during pre-rush hour. The red line used to do 4 cars during midnight times good old days
4 cars on red, that’s crazy. I’ve been on some pretty busy trains at 2am!
Pink Line goes through interesting geography. Around 18th and Damen the houses were raised or built one story above the ground to help will sewage issues when the city was raised in the late 19th century (See George Pullman's career start) At Cicero it passes the site of the former Western Union plant which had 45,000 workers making phone and phone equipment from 1905-1983. Only the plant tower is still visible as a shopping center replaced it after it closes. Also it courses the BNSF "racetrack" near Western Avenue
I’ve always thought it should be extended along the BNSF line to take some local traffic off of it, speed up Metra service.
The Pink gets pretty crowded in the mornings heading to the Polk Station because of the Medical District there. I had to take the Pink Line to get a test at Rush Medical Center earlier this year and I was surprised how full the train got at 9am going away from the Loop. Lots of medical staff, medical students, as well as people like me going for some test or another. I am surprised they haven't put in a United Center station yet.
My parents used to live near Polk and I remember waiting 25 minutes for a pink line train there
@bryanCJC2105, it's more like Wirtz and Reisdorf (the owners of the Blackhawks and Bulls respectively) want to keep making money off of their UC parking lots -- that's why the CTA will construct a Green Line station at Damen Ave. (& Lake St.) rather than a Pink Line station at Madison St.
Soo, if they ran an 8 car train, how does it work at the end of the line 54th/Cermak? The Northbound train must cross to the single platform at a switch in the mid-platform area, discharge passengers, then proceed Southbound to pick up passengers going inbound. If the switch is in the middle of the platform, how do 8 cars fit fully on the platform to discharge passengers?
16:29 _"Short, stubby little trains..."_
I'm going to wake up laughing in my sleep at that! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Tysm for this video the pink line is my home line
No problem!
Alright: So what I’m getting from this video is that the Pink Line is basically the G Line in NYC but elevated for longer.
Nice video. This year i spend a week in the German city of Stuttgart. A citytrip always means heavy use of public transport. Handy on the Stuttgart Stadtbahn was that on the information screens you can see if you have a long or a short train. On the platforms you can see were the long or short trains stop. No running needed.
Tokyo, the Netherlands and Washington DC are three places I’ve lived where the screens also say this.
Good reporting and history lesson; thanks for making it. (Some of still call it the "Douglas/Milwaukee.")
Thanks!
Great Vid Tom my cousins live off the Koster stop!
That's cool!
@@Thom-TRA yeah I have friends who live off of other lines.
Great video, but I really wish you would have mentioned the fact that the pink line goes right by the United Center but rather bizarrely there is no station there or anywhere else on the Paulina connector. It's a massive missed opportunity that oddly does not seem to have been discussed when that section of track was put back into revenue service. There used to be station at Madison, which would be perfect for serving the UC.
Why would I mention that when you and a million other people have already talked about it in the comments? You’re doing my job for me
Because you didn't have any problem spending half the video complaining about the 4-car trains. Which I actually think is a valid point, but less of an issue than you're making it out to be.
@@mattanderson3452 only one person is complaining here and it’s not me. I merely just pointed out ridership doesn’t match capacity. If that’s complaining to you then I don’t know how you survive the internet.
@@Thom-TRA And I am merely pointing out that Madison would be a logical location for a station serving the United Center and that the lack thereof might be a noteworthy observation to make during your discussion of the Paulina connector.
If, as you say, such a major service change merited a new name, why didn't it also merit any new stations?
Just got off of the metro after MetroFest and it was a blast! We also got to use the PA system and horn on a 7k
Metrofest is awesome!
@@Thom-TRA yeah I’m glad that they have started doing this! I also got to meet Randy clark
Sheldon Cooper approves of this UA-cam Channel.
Hey Tom, great video as always
Interesting facts about the history of the pink line
As you know from your recent visit to Pittsburgh, our light rail lines now have colors for names instead of actual names
The difference is here in Pittsburgh. There are only three colors, red blue and silver as opposed to eight lines in Chicago.
Prior to our light rail lines in Pittsburgh having colors they had both numbers and a letter as well as the name of the neighborhood that the train served
I completely understand. Here in Dallas, it’s getting rarer to see 3 car trains on the system as our cars are getting older and less available. The cars built for Dallas are a bit larger than the average LRV, so the usual 2 car consists are usually big enough for the ridership DART gets (sometimes it gets a bit packed during rush hour) but they use “3 packs” as we call them on days where ridership is expected to be massively higher than usual. The State Fair of Texas sees crazy ridership numbers for dart and not even a 3 pack every 10 minutes could handle that ridership. I love to see one outside of the fair months.
They do this if the line is too crowded or like an event like you said they do the same thing in the winter with the yellow line
kudos, Thom, for another extremely interesting and informative video. This one has certainly whetted my appetite for a weekend of riding the L and having some Lou Malnati’s to go with it!
Think of me when you enjoy your Italian beef
If you are interested, is there any chance you can experience the talking crosswalks in Michigan? I know some in the Grand Rapids area. College and Cherry has this polara navigator. In most cases, they don't always talk. They also have one on Division and Fulton. There is a message that if you hold down the pedestrian signal, they sometimes say wait to cross street, at street. However, that ain't the case. They have a machine gun-like sound on the button. Or, you can refer to them as rapid ticks. Those can be found on some EN2/N2 models. However, they don't have to be the same ones, as there is a mini version of them. They can be from models of INS to IDS. I'm not really sure about the difference between them, but mostly you can find one of them Campbell APS. If I'm not mistaken, South Bend has several of those crosswalks
I was In Chicago this weekend and this exact situation happened to me waiting for a pink link at the far end of the platform just for it to stop halfway down
Thom, what I don't understand is why no station was built on the pink line to accommodate the United Center. It seems to be only a block away. Am I getting the picture wrong?
Probably because parking revenue is too valuable and Chicago politicians honestly never prioritize transit.
A great video Thom. Exactly the kind of content which brought me to your channel in the first place. The right mix out of train spotting, history and commentary. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the circulator challenge, but this video here was highlight for me!
Also, the L gives me some weird vibes. I looks modern and kinda run down and old fashioned at the same time. And the trains are if the New York Subway and the Kleinprofil-Lines of the Berlin U-Bahn had a baby.
Thom, CTA Pink Line is 18 years old, man time flies!!!🚉💖😃👍💯
It’s crazy how fast time goes
@@Thom-TRA Tell me about it!!!
I love riding on the Pink Line!
They need 8 car trains for everyday usage. Rush hour is quite packed nowadays
BART in San Francisco uses colored lines on maps, but doesn’t identify them verbally as such. Instead, they’re identified by their destination/terminus.
The G line in NYC once ran full-size trains but frequency was suboptimal. As the surrounding neighborhoods gentrified and more people began moving there, residents clamored for increased service, but there wasn’t enough rolling stock so the train lengths were halved. Now the line runs 6-car trains and there are signs directing passengers to the boarding area but some still end up running down the platform to board before the doors close.
Hey David atm the G is running 5 car trains they last run 6 car trains in the early 2000s. Trust me I WISH it was 6 cars or more.
@@ayindestevens6152 I stand corrected; thanks.
@@davidthaler7018 no worries ex-G train rider here
I love these system anomalies.
Me too, they’re fun
Great video!
Thanks!
Great video and I have a cta map and Following the video with the map
That’s the best way to do it!
@Thom-TRA So in the video then I realized I got a system map from c.T a that so I take it out of my Desk so I help me Help me to see where you are going on the pink line
I am actually surprised that a 24-hour pass is only $5, while in cities like Minneapolis with only two lines, it also costs $5 on weekdays and $4 on weekends. I finally started using light rails this year since COVID put a stop to it in 2020 for me.
I use to hate it when the orange line would cut down to 4 cars in the afternoon. I don't know why they would do it cause the people were always pack like sardines. 😤
Great video, I bet Lyndsey was keeping an eye on you though lol
If I look at historical pictures of the Chicago L, or think back to my memories of the L in the 1960s, most of the lines ran 2 car trains all day, perhaps expanding to 4 cars during rush hours. The purple and yellow lines even ran 1 car trains most of the time. The purple line had special cars built for one-person operation; at most stops (except Linden, Davis, and Howard) the operator turned around in his chair and faced the front door to collect fares at the stop; it was like a bus. Only the north-south line ran 8 car trains all day. I mention this just to ask what's changed? Are they running longer but less frequent trains to save costs? Or has ridership shot way up? Do you (or any of your viewers) know?
I’m sure the population of Chicago and thus ridership has grown. Not to mention the pace of automobile ownership has passed its peak since the 60s. But I’m sure others will know other reasons.
@@Thom-TRA Thanks, Thom! I know the population of the metropolitan area has grown, but I'm pretty sure that the population inside city limits has stayed about the same. So it's quite possible that suburbanites are driving in to outlying L stations (such as Dempster on the yellow line, Rosemont and Forest Park on the Blue line, and so on). Those stations are near freeways and have large parking lots. As to auto ownership within the city, that's a very interesting point--one that begs for more research. Thank you again for your very thoughtful reply!
I'm just imagining a sign taped in the operator's cab *"8 CARS!"* to remind them where to stop at each platform.
I wonder what the incremental cost of operating each extra pair is.
I’m sure they needed a sticky note or something.
And I’d imagine the costs aren’t much higher. Maybe slightly more electricity because of the weight but the labor costs are the same.
@@Thom-TRA you also have to account for the higher maintenance costs. Over time running more cars costs more money, which is the only good argument I've heard for why the Pink Line only runs 4 car trains (though rush hour could probably stand to use longer trains). I've heard that pre-covid the CTA used to add and remove train cars based on time of day to try and minimize maintenance costs. But I think they eventually determined that the extra labor needed constantly be adding and removing train cars in the yard exceeded the value of maintenance that was saved.
Actually, Chicago isn't the only one, the Mexico City subway does have a brown and pink line! Line 1 is the pink line and it's been around since it opened on September 4, 1969, but from Zaragoza to Chapultepec, and then it extended to Juanacatlan in 1970 and months later to Tacubaya and finally extended to Observatorio in 1972. And then in 1984, Line 1 extended again to Pantitlán to connect with Line 5, which is the yellow line. Then in 1987, Line 9, which is the brown line opened from Pantitlán to Centro Medico (Medical Central), and then in 1988, it extended to Tacubaya, where it meets Lines 7 (Orange Line) and Line 1 (Pink Line), but there are still plans to extend Line 9 to Observatorio to connect Line 1 again. Line 9 purpose is decongest passengers on Line 1 and serve as a express line between Tacubaya and Pantitlán. In other words, Chicago and Mexico City are the only two cities in North America that have brown and pink lines on their subway systems
Okay, listen closely to what I actually said. Chicago is the only city with a line _called_ the Pink line.
Many other cities have pink colors on the map. LA has the K line.
But the line in Mexico is _called_ Line 1. Not Pink Line. Chicago is the only city with a line that has the name Pink Line.
@@Thom-TRA oh! I get it now! Even though I live in Chicago, well Aurora, and I've been on every single subway in Mexico City when I go visit relatives. Been riding their subway since I was 7 years old, and I believe my first line was Line 6, which their red line from El Rosario to Martin Carrera, but got off at La Villa-Basilica to visit the Basilica of Guadalupe, and my second trip on the subway was from El Rosario to Zócalo/Tenochtitlán via lines 7 and 2 at Tacuba. And ever since then, been traveling and exploring other lines, except Line 12, the Golden Line. The Mexico City subway and the CTA are somewhat very similar to each other, especially at Pantitlán, because it sorta resembles Clark/Lake, so many transfers
RIP Douglas Branch
Have you considered doing a video on the Yellow Line and why it even exists? It is extremely short, and it is entirely suburban.
Yes, I’ve done one a few years ago
Thanks for the great
19:31: Why is there a no-left-turn signal?
I used to live a couple of blocks from the end of the line. I used to take the El to the beach. Lol.
I love the beach
another great video, Thom. I'm not familiar with the Chicago system, but your video and narration filled in the gaps. Thanks again. Btw, just curious if you've ever been to Steamtown NP in Scranton?
I have yet to visit Scranton!
I learned more than I thought I would from a train video. Thanks for that.
Out of the Loop trains, this is my opinion; I think the Pink Line should us 6-8 cars during the evening and rush hour-events.
Being in NY, the whole variable length train thing is kinda wild to me. Outside the G, H, and overnight M, all trains run their max length at all times, be it 2 (S), 6(0), 8 (B, D, N, Q, W, J, L, M, Z), 10 (A, C, E, F, R, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), or 11 (7) cars.
Why doesn't the Pink Line have a stop at the Chicago Stadium?
United Center? Supposedly the owners of the United Center bought up a lot of parking surrounding the stadium which prevents a pink line stop from being constructed. That said, the new Damen green line station (opening in a few weeks) will be fairly close. There’s also some proposed redevelopment of United Center and some are hoping this will bring a pink line stop to the stadium.
I've seen two-car trains on the Green Line before; generally later in the evening like after 8 or 9pm or so. I don't know if they still run 'em that short, but if they don't... well, they used to.
Whoah, even in the loop?
@@Thom-TRA Yep. Can't get from one end of the Green Line to the other without going through the Loop. 🙂
Those ones with the blue driving cabs look quite smart.
Those are the 7000 series
Those are the brand new cars that started entering service last year replacing cars 40-50 years old.
That is the only part of cta I have never been on besides the Dan Ryan branch south of 35th. Any recommendations of things to do off of the pink line? I want to try it soon. Have you been from 35th-95th and if so, how is the ride?
There’s good tacos and food along the pink line. And Pilsen is a fun neighborhood.
The red line south of 35th can be intense but still worth riding. 95th is a cool station.
@@Thom-TRA I’ve wanted to check out pilsen! And If I really wanted to go to 95th, it would probably have to be around morning rush, and I would sit in the front, I go to china town all of the time and even there it’s just so many people going in between the cars and selling who knows what, I once saw someone selling gun powder….
Most awesome way to do this would be if half the carriages switched to a blue line train at Congress.
In San Jose before 2019 the tram lines are known by their final destination. However being a former operator and resident of San Jose for 30 years I still refer it by what's on the sign board.
Cool video man
Thanks!
Watching a TRA video while riding on a train just hits different
It’s where it’s meant to be
@@Thom-TRA Riding the Northeast Regional home to Newport News. Currently pulling into Baltimore
I enjoyed the video👍👍
I'm glad!
NYC has a brown line also lol but it's called the J train
Since you're talking about the Pink Line. Perhaps you heard about the new development plan around the United Center. It's about time there was a station along the Paulina Connector. It always made sense to have a station on Madison at least. Not to hijack the subject of this video.
That's why CTA made a Damen station on the Green Line which is actually a shorter walking distance to the United Center than a Madison Pink Line station. The proposal is just from a third party developer and not CTA.
@@ChicagolandTransit In which case if Damen on the Green is closer then that does make sense as well. I'm all for a CTA L connection to the U.C. area. I haven't read up fully on the private development proposal I will admit, saw a Madison station mentioned though it's still a city call I know.
Supposedly the new Damen Green station will be open in time for the DNC
@@Thom-TRAAugust 5th!
There used to be a stop at Madison, but they tore it down in the 50s. As much as I would appreciate Damen/Lake being built, I don’t think it will be enough for the area.
It also happened in September 2023.
Interesting
Pink line
One, you have to have extra cars and sets to utilize longer trains and two, to justify convenience with people wanting to catch them in the station and handling loads during the times the service is utilize at its heaviest. The city that I live, nyc has a few lines using cars under 10, the C train which has 8 cars due to low ridership and not having extra cars or set to justify but can be fix with the ongoing deliveriee of the r211, the J,L,M and Z have their routes and physical lines being unable to accommodate the platform lengths higher than 480 feet so they have no choice but to use 8 cars, shuttle trains only use half of the length compare to 10 car full sets and also SIR and the G train but like the C, the G can be improved since the route did had issues related to the train length
I'm honestly surprised the CTA hasn't started running longer trains on Pink, especially with President Dorval Carter outright saying he focused on capacity more than frequency. I can say for sure it's not an equipment issue as yards are full and the most unreliable trains tend to actually be the 7000's,the newest trainsets.
I brought the 4 car train issue up with CTA management when I was waiting on Morgan and was approached by one of the big wigs. I was told that this is not a goal due to ridership levels. Ridership would have to double in order for the Pink like to get 6 or 8 car trains all day. The only goal that CTA said was achievable was to have a pink line train average every 10 minutes 7 days a week, but the 4 car trains will remain for the foreseeable future. Per CTA it’s the 2nd least utilized line next to Yellow. Ridership on the short Evanston branch of the purple line averages more riders than the entire pink line outside the loop. This is per CTA management. I hate being packed like sardines on the Pink during the rush period and having to wait 10-15 minutes for the next packed train. Some days are better than others, but it’s something they need to look into.
My favorite line naming system is by letter. I think of numbers as being for bus routes, since there’s usually more than 26 bus routes in a city that wants/has a metro; and I think colors can be a bit restricting, since a system with many lines will run into the problem of running out of basic colors, plus it’s less friendly to colorblind people. While geographic names can be the easiest way of communicating where the line goes from locals, I think letters, numbers, or colors are much easier for people not familiar with the city, and can lead to long names, like the Market-Frankford, Shrewsbury (Now the St. Louis Blue Line), or Piccadilly.
As a red-green colorblind guy, I don't have much of an issue. I think the map colors might be a bit too similar in grayscale, but things are pretty clearly labeled with words. If Chicago gets to the point where we have to distinguish the eggshell line from the ecru line, we might have bigger problems. But I think there's plenty of room for expansion--black, gray, white, maroon, turquoise, ...
@@bsnow304Agreed, if it gets to eggshell & ecru, that’s where I’m drawing a line in the sand!
@@bsnow304 I don’t think being colorblind is such a huge issue that we need to get rid of all color names ever, so I would support Chicago keeping the colors; and most places either acknowledge the issue with a colorblind version of the map, or the system is so simple you shouldn’t have an issue in the first place. I just prefer letters more.
what ks the maxium nuber of cars alloud on the vert closely stationed loop.
The maximum number of CTA "L" cars for each train currently would be eight (8).
From Argentina nuevo subcritor fantatic Fantatic my friends excellent Like 👍🏻 Greeting 😊👋🏻
Gracias!
Now if only they'd bring back the Humboldt Park Branch...
I wish
I am a native Chicagoan, when did Humboldt Park have a branch?
@@cocoaorange1 From 1895 to 1952.
I don't ride the Pink Line often but I hadn't seen 7k series cars on the Pink until seeing this video.
This is probably a test run, 7000s are only assigned to the blue line as far as I know.
All thanks to my friend who caught the videos!
What an interesting line with a fascinating history. I still find it weird how the L has level crossings on the outer segments. Its too bad the system has such dismal frequencies though. I hope that can change with longer trains and better frequencies as the demand has been demonsrated to be there. It's a real shame how so many North American cities tore out so many buildings and neighborhoods just to build super expensive to build and maintain highways and parking lots , alll while increasing inequity, pollution, traffic deaths and worsening outcomes not to mention destroying their finances.
New subscriber
Thanks!
@@Thom-TRA your welcome
I think I might be in the minority here. As a person and a Chicagoan that has lived relatively near the Pink Line all my life, and has been using it even back when it was still the Blue Line, I honestly preferred it as the Blue Line to 54th/Cetmak. I miss when Blue Line trains ran through it. I think by far the biggest detriment from the change, is that the Pink Line doesn't run 24/7 like it did back when it was the Blue Line. Side note/fun fact: The Blue line is (or rather was, as as of the pandemic, it's schedule has changed) one of only two lines that run 24/7 at all times. The other one (and at this point, the ONLY one now) is the Red Line. One can only wonder why the Orange Line doesn't run 24/7, as it too services an international airport (Midway Airport). In a perfect Chicago, I feel *ALL* L lines should run 24/7.
Also, I can confirm that the Pink Line stations 200% CAN service full size eight car trains, as back when Blue Line trains ran through it, they all had full fat eight car trains. It still to this very day feels off-putting to me, as someone who has used the Pink Line for the longest time, to see small four car trains running on the Pink Line when they used to have full on eight car trains back in the day.
There is a bit of a silver lining though, as the Loomis ramp does still see some use from time to time. If there are problems on the tracks north of the Eisenhower and at, or near the Loop, Pink Line trains will sometimes get rerouted through the Loomis ramp and stop at Racine like the Blue Line trains used to do back in the day. After which they will pull foward past Racine, switch onto the westbound tracks on the other side, and return to Racine to pick up passengers bound for the Pink Line. Though this only happens once in a blue moon.
Also, another thing that boggles my mind about the Pink Line, is how it has no stop on the Paulina Connector that services the United Center, nevermind the fact that the line runs DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF IT. You'd think that'd be a no brainer on the City's part.
Also, for those of you that don't want to traverse the entire loop on the Pink Line heading back to 54th/Cermak, here's a little trick you can do to skip all that: take a green line train back towards Harlem and get off at any of the shared Pink/Green line stops (Morgan, Ashland, or Clinton) and then Take a Pink Line train bound for 54th/Cermak. This way, you can head back without having to go around the Loop! Neat!
Yeah the few times I ever tried to take a blue line train to O’Hare in the middle of the night, I had to call an Uber because it would be at least an hour before a train showed up. That’s not running all night in my book.
@@Thom-TRA yeah, they changed it sometime in 2020 during the pandemic. Why this is, I have no idea.
I just saw the weirdest thing today! I saw metra sd70mac no 500 in the 18th street yard for metra electric!
That is weird!
Ikr
BART lines were refered to as colors so much they ended up making the color names offical
Yep
Could the Pink Line be the metro line with the most level crossings? There are commuter rail and tram lines that are branded as metro that might have more, but the Chicago El is almost universally recognized as rapid transit.
I just looked it up and apparently the Yamanote has a level crossing? That's insane!
Yep, there’s one! And it is closed I believe 55 minutes an hour.
Idk if the brown line has more, it would be a close tie.
Yellow Line has the most.
@@akis.4493 On a quick glance, OpenRailway shows 10 level crossings on the Cermak Branch (one of which is the one between the terminus and the yard). The Skokie Swift seems to have 7. Maybe I'm overlooking something.