Articles under Infrastructure/Construction Notice

Work requires nine-day suspension of rail service between Rosemont and O’Hare stations; Free bus shuttle service to be provided 24/7

The Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) today announced plans for a nine-day suspension of Blue Line service between the O’Hare and Rosemont stations on the Blue Line later this month. This extended line-cut will allow crews to safely and more efficiently perform critical and complex track and signal work planned as part of Your New Blue—a multi-year capital improvement project that will provide Blue Line riders with faster, smoother and more reliable service along the O’Hare branch.

Beginning 10 p.m. Friday, September 27 through 4 a.m. Monday, October 7, trains will not run between the Rosemont and O’Hare stations. To accommodate riders, CTA will operate a free bus shuttle between the Rosemont Station and O’Hare International Airport Bus/Shuttle Center. The Bus Shuttle Center is located above the O’Hare Blue Line Station, between Terminals 1, 2, and 3. For connections to Terminal 5, riders should board the O’Hare shuttle bus in Terminals 1, 2, or 3 (Airport Shuttle route map).

The free shuttle buses will operate every 3-5 minutes during the day on weekdays and weekends, and up to every 10 minutes during the overnight hours.

Customers are strongly recommended to allow at least an extra 20-30 minutes of travel time during daytime hours and a little longer during late evening and overnight hours. Customers should also use CTA Train Tracker for real-time travel information. Customers can also subscribe to CTA alerts for the Blue Line at transitchicago.com/updates.

Despite the additional travel time, the Blue Line remains the most affordable, most reliable way get to and from O’Hare Airport. Blue Line trains will continue to operate normally between Rosemont and Forest Park, via downtown.

This temporary service impact is the first of two extended line-cuts planned as part of a $207 million Your New Blue project to upgrade the nearly 40-year old signal system, which was announced in May. A second line-cut will occur next year, at a date to be determined.

The $492 million Your New Blue initiative, one of the largest projects in CTA history, includes track and infrastructure improvements, station upgrades, subway improvements, signal upgrades and power upgrades along the O’Hare Branch of the Blue Line. This signal work follows a number of other projects that are either completed or underway as part of the historic Your New Blue program, which was announced in 2013. Other projects include the modernization of 14 rail stations, of which nine are complete, as well as track renewal and infrastructure work.

More information

See this customer alert for details about bus shuttle boarding locations and a map of the shuttle bus substitution service in the context of the Blue Line.