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Christina Zdanowicz/Medill
CTA President Ron Huberman (center) explains what the new rail cars may look like at the Chicago Transit Board meeting on Wednesday morning.
More secure CTA rail cars on the way
by
Christina Zdanowicz
Jan 23, 2008
Riding the El will become safer and more pleasant with the arrival of more than 400 new rail cars in 2010.
The Chicago Transit Authority's board voted on Wednesday to revise a contract for 406 new Bombardier rail cars. The revision adds live video feeds to the operator from all cars and could enable emergency personnel to access to the video.
Right now, it takes an operator several minutes to stop a train and respond to an intercom call from a passenger. With the new system, the operator would be able to see the situation via video instantly.
Money for the contract comes from capital funding provided by the Federal Transit Administration and the Illinois Department of Transportation. The funds are independent of the recent $530 million mass transit bailout.
The board's vote will add $26 million to the original $577 million contract for the new rail cars.
Passengers in the new cars will be more aware of what’s going on thanks to six large video monitors to be installed in each car. Text on the screens will report the train's location, the next station and estimated travel times.
“Right now, quite honestly, a big gripe of our customers that we’re trying to address, is that we don’t communicate with them enough when something goes wrong,” said CTA President Ron Huberman.
The CTA's Control Center also will be able to distribute messages across the rail system. The board cited the London bombings of July 2005 as an example of the need to communicate with passengers in an emergency.
Real-time diagnostic information will allow CTA repair crews to pinpoint problems quickly without having to lift a disabled car from the tracks. This feature should help reduce delays caused by broken trains.
The CTA expects 10 prototypes of the rail cars to arrive in 2009.
The new cars will replace some of the CTA’s aging 1,200-car fleet. Currently, 28 percent of the cars are more than 25 years old, the federal standard for a car’s useful lifespan. The average CTA car is 24 years old.
Anti-stain, anti-microbial seat covers and a different interior design are some of the other perks riders can expect to see in the new cars.
