01/28/00
Service on five CTA 'L' lines will be enhanced starting Monday, January 31. The service improvements are being made in response to a 7 percent increase in rail ridership over the past year.
Extra trains will be scheduled during both morning and afternoon rush periods on the Green Line, providing service from Harlem every 7? to 8 minutes, instead of every 10 minutes.
Trains will run every 15 to 16 minutes, instead of every 20 minutes, on both the East 63rd and Ashland branches of the Green Line, and every 7? to 8 minutes north from Garfield.
Average weekday ridership on the Green Line increased 7.1 percent from April through November of 1999, and 14.8 percent since before the line was closed for two years of rehabilitation in 1994.
On the Red Line, one additional eight-car train will be added to the schedule southbound from Howard at about 8 a.m. and northbound from 95th Street at about 4:45 p.m.
To accommodate heavy ridership on the Blue Line south of Logan Square during the late morning rush period, one extra train will originate at Jefferson Park for a trip to 54th/Cermak, and another at Belmont for a trip to UIC/Halsted.
On the Brown Line, where morning rush period trains are especially crowded south of Belmont, an extra Brown Line train will enter service at Belmont at 8:17 a.m. for a trip to the Loop. After circling the outer Loop, this same train will leave the Merchandise Mart station northbound at 8:47 a.m. as a Purple Line Express to Linden.
Also on the Brown Line, Sunday shuttle trains between Kimball and Belmont will operate every 10 minutes instead of 12 minutes apart from late morning until about 5 p.m.
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