When the branch was first proposed, an Electric railroad named the C, A & E was supposed to run on this line, but the C, A & E ceased operation in 1957
I also understand that there is a plan to build a direct pedway from Union Station to the Clinton Blue Line station. Up to 1953, there was a pedway/ bridge from Union Station to the old Canal Street Station on the Garfield Park 'L' (The Blue Line Predecesor)
That is the eventual goal of this project. Right now it's still in phase I, which is only from Clinton to IMD. I briefly discuss future project phases near the end of the video.
There should definitely be a way to reroute the Blue Line Trains onto the Pink Line by building a ramp on the west side of the L structure and on up to the L. It shouldn't take long to build a ramp on the west side of the structure for the Pink Line which should have been done in the very beginning.
@@Robbi496 I sure hope so. There should be ramps up to the "PAULINA CONNECTOR" on both sides to reroute Blue Line Trains to the Pink Line in case of emergency re-routings to the Lake Street L.
Rebuilding the Congress Branch is not a waste of time, it's a necessity! The tracks and infrastructure on the branch are in very poor condition and there are tens of thousands of passengers who rely on this branch for travel every day! Service to O'Hare, although not the greatest it could possibly be, still runs quite well and does provide very good airport connection, as compared to many other cities (thinking of NYC specifically here). At the end of the day, with limited time and resources, the CTA needs to focus on keeping the infrastructure they have in a condition where passengers can use it and have it work well, which is what they're doing with the Forest Park Branch rebuild. An entire branch of the system degrading to a point of almost unitability would be huge. It would be detrimental both to the CTA and to the thousands of west side residents who rely on that service! Ultimately, trips to O'Hare already exist! Making them slightly more convenient is going to get a lower priority than simply maintaining acceptable service across the system as a whole!
