CTA Officials Dedicate New Wellington Brown Line Station
8/14/2009
16 of 18 Stations Now Completed on Capacity Expansion Project
Chicago Transit Authority officials today dedicated the new Wellington station on the Brown Line.
The station reopened to customers July 30 after a 16-month temporary closure for construction as part of the line’s capacity expansion project.
Wellington is the sixteenth of 18 stations included in the Brown Line capacity expansion project to be completed. To date, work also has been completed at Kimball, Kedzie, Rockwell, Francisco, Western, Sedgwick, Montrose, Addison, Southport, Armitage, Diversey, Chicago, Damen, Irving Park and Paulina.
With the completion of Wellington, all of the Brown Line stations temporarily closed for renovation now are open. Although construction remains under way at Belmont and Fullerton, service continues to operate at both stations.
“We are pleased to mark the completion of renovations at Wellington,” said CTA President Richard L. Rodriguez. “Modernizing the station and making it accessible to customers with disabilities will help meet the transit needs of CTA customers for many years to come as well as contribute to the development of the surrounding community.”
At Wellington, a new station house was built in the same location as the previous station house, and a new auxiliary exit was built just north of the station on Nelson Street for added customer convenience and passage.
With the addition of two elevators, the Wellington station now is accessible to customers with disabilities. With this station reopening, 89 of CTA’s 144 rail stations are accessible.
The platforms at Wellington were reconfigured to accommodate eight-car trains which allow more customers to board. Other conveniences include accessible turnstiles, brighter lighting, new signs - including Braille signs - and bike racks.
As part of the partnership between CTA and the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs, artwork is part of station renovations in the overall project. At the Wellington station, Martin Donlin created an art glass storefront that depicts human figures in motion, as if passing through the station.
Prior to the start of construction, the average weekday ridership at the Wellington station was 2,700. Average weekday ridership on the Brown Line is more than 80,000.
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