The CTA will reopen the Paulina station on the Brown Line to customers and resume rail service tomorrow morning, Friday, April 3. The station was temporarily closed for construction for one year as part of the capacity expansion project on the Brown Line.
A new stationhouse was built across the street from the site of the old stationhouse. The new stationhouse, located at 3410 N. Lincoln, features two new elevators making the station accessible to customers with disabilities. With the reopening of Paulina, 88 out of 144 rail stations are accessible on the CTA system. The old site of the stationhouse has become an auxiliary entrance/exit for added customer convenience.
The platforms at the station were reconfigured to accommodate eight-car trains which allow more customers to board. Other amenities include accessible turnstiles, brighter lighting, new signs - including Braille signs - and a bike rack.
Paulina is the fifteenth 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 and Irving Park. The only station now closed for construction is Wellington, which will reopen to customers at the end of the summer. Although construction remains underway at Belmont and Fullerton, service continues to operate at both stations.
Prior to the start of construction, the average weekday ridership at the Paulina station was 2,916. Average weekday ridership on the Brown Line is more than 80,000.
# # #