If you’ve been lucky enough to catch the fancy new prototype el cars on the Green Line lately, you may have marveled at its electronic signage, security cameras and aisle-facing seats.
If you’ve missed them, though, you’re in luck – sort of. The CTA is pulling the new cars off the tracks for a few weeks to repair a problem that could cause the new, smoother brakes to fail, but CTA President Richard Rodriguez has extended the new cars’ stay on the Green Line as a result.
The CTA began testing the new cars on the Green Line on May 17, and is running a single train of the new 5000 series railcars around every branch of the system to work out the kinks. If the test goes well, the CTA will order 396 more cars, which will replace cars on both the Green and Blue lines.
The Green Line is the cars’ second stop; no word yet on when South Oak Parkers and Forest Parkers will see them on the Blue Line.
