The Purple Line is the only CTA rapid transit line currently providing true express service, and only to the North Side. If rail transit is to survive as a viable and competitive mode of transportation in Chicago, cross-town express service should be instituted in various trunk corridors. The Purple Line represents a logical first step, since as the spine of Chicago’s rail system, it carries a bulk of CTA’s rapid transit ridership. The upgraded service provides a comparable or better level of service by many measures (including travel time) for both discretionary and non-discretionary Downtown trips, as well as those between the South and North Sides.
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The upgraded service begins south of Fullerton Avenue, where the Purple Line switches to the current Red Line alignment and at Willow Street, descends into an expanded 4-track State Street subway, continuing through a rebuilt 4-track, 2-platform North/Clybourn Station. South of North/Clybourn, the Purple continues through the State Street subway, while the Red Line diverges east via a new subway beneath ____ Avenue, transitioning to the Brown Line elevated alignment just west of Sedgwick. (This enhancement to the Red Line is intended to eliminate the slow, tight-curved elevated section parallel to North Avenue, which it is proposed be abandoned when Brown Line service is reconfigured in a later phase. This service reconfiguration will be further described below).
The Purple Line remains in the State Street Subway through the Near North Side and Downtown, and is rejoined by the Red Line near Harrison Street, where the subway is expanded to 4 tracks and express service commences, with Purple Line trains occupying the inside tracks and Red Line trains on the outside. A 4-track configuration continues south as far as 95th Street, with Purple Line express stations at Cermak/ Chinatown, 63rd, and 95th Streets.
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