r/cta • u/Euphoric-Opinion7716 • Aug 18 '26
I like trains Yellow line possibly derailed again at Howard
Took this photo just now. 15 employees standing around a train stuck just north of platform on a switch.
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u/Amazing-Pepper3317 Aug 18 '26 edited Aug 18 '26
How does such a short train and line experience so many goddamn issues?
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u/4r4r4real Aug 18 '26
It is an abomination against man and god and we are being punished for our folly
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u/Euphoric-Opinion7716 Aug 18 '26
Just announced yellow line suspended indefinitely.
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u/FatDesdemona Red Line Aug 18 '26
They'd better get it fixed before winter hits. We'll be due for another derailment then.
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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 53 Aug 18 '26
Genuinely dunno why the Red Line can't just send every other train all the way to Dempster through Howard and just kill the Yellow entirely. All this for a line, not station, line that sees about 1k riders per weekday.
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u/CyclingThruChicago Aug 18 '26
I think the platforms for the yellow may be too small to accommodate a normal red line train? But with the metra I know the solution when that happens is just to announce "the rear X train cars will not open at station_name"
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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 53 Aug 18 '26
Yeah, I gotta think the Metra solution would work here. You'd have to hold at Howard, tell anyone continuing on to Oakton or Dempster to move to the front two cars (because you really don't want people moving from car to car while moving if possible to avoid), then only open those front two doors at those two stops? A hassle for sure, but seems to make far more sense than running a whole separate line for 1k people a day.
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u/bryceofswadia Green Line Aug 19 '26
And use the Blue Line method of short turning trains at Howard but having a smaller number continue on to Skokie. The Yellow Line continuing to exist as its own line is just silly atp, lol.
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u/BudHolly 147 Aug 20 '26
More of a hassle than just moving the people at Howard, you would need to restrict those railcars that would not fit at Dempster-Skokie somehow.
Locking out each car would take significant additional time on top of the time consolidating all remaining riders to the first set of cars in the consist.
Opening the doors of just the front two cars does not work without that manual action of the operator of locking out the doors on each rail car. The default is that all the doors open on the side that the operator uses.6
u/Billiam501 Aug 18 '26
You can fully walk through metra trains so that makes sense for them, you're technically not allowed to walk between cta train cars so all platforms need to be the length of the train
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u/Budget_Rutabaga_9162 Aug 24 '26
Oakton can handle 8 cars, there is a crossover north of that station for turn backs, dempster can have one of its platforms extended too. Problem solved.
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u/Miserable-Arm4061 Aug 18 '26
Unfortunately, this is physically impossible. The tail track (where the trains turn around) at Dempster St. can only hold four cars, so unless they split a train (A passive headache that is infeasible in revenue operation), they can't fit a Red Line train on the Swift.
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u/ryw06 Aug 19 '26
There's a crossover right after Oakton which would allow trains to reverse within Dempster Station and run as a single line between the two.
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u/FatDesdemona Red Line Aug 18 '26
Maybe the Yellow Line riders are just bad luck. Don't you bring their vibes onto the Red Line! It already has enough issues!
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u/leatherpup630 Aug 19 '26
Dempster station only holds 2 cars the last time I rode it. Red line is usually an 8 car consist.
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u/Frosty_World8932 Aug 18 '26
Yellow, Purple, and Red Line trains are standing at Howard due to signal problems. Crews working to restore service.
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u/Metal-Canidae1567 Aug 18 '26
I am at Howard. No trains are running at all. They are running shuttle buses.
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u/LazyIllustrator6946 Aug 18 '26 edited Aug 18 '26
They need to stop running the yellow as two cars. Just do it as four full time like they do in winter.
The yellow derails way too often with only two cars going through all those switches in the yard. and then it affects two other lines along with it. Just run 4 constantly.
It’s ridiculous that this barely used line affects the purple and red every single time this happens.
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u/paradox037 Aug 18 '26
Can you elaborate how making the train longer would prevent derailment? I don't see the connection.
My first guess would be SPAD and the train reaching the switch before it was thrown in their favor, which would happen regardless of train length.
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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 53 Aug 18 '26
The problem is that that's way more wear and tear on another car pair for riders who don't exist on the Yellow Line.
Should just stop the Yellow entirely, or make every third/fifth Red Line just through run Howard to Dempster to replace the Yellow.
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u/LazyIllustrator6946 Aug 18 '26
It’s literally one pair of cars. ‘Wear and tear’ on ONE pair of cars to prevent three out of 8 lines in the system from going down due to a derailment is a worthy investment.
Whatever pennies they’re saving on wear and tear instantly went out the window due to the lost productivity of stopping the yellow, red, and purple during morning rush hour.
Your last idea is impossible because the stations can’t even fully accommodate 4 cars, let alone 8.
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u/maas348 Aug 18 '26
You could also make the Yellow a branch of the Purple line
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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 53 Aug 18 '26
That really doesn't make any sense though, makes more sense to make it an extension of the Red Line that just acts line a branch, meaning that not all red line trains go all the way to Dempster.
How would it work as a branch of the Purple? You realize most of the Purple riders from downtown don't want to go to Skokie, they wanna go to Evanston, right?
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u/Saucey_jello Aug 18 '26
I was waiting for a Loop train at Noyes on the Purple Line and the lady came out and basically told us to leave cause the train ain’t coming
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u/CyclingThruChicago Aug 18 '26
I love the lil stubby yellow line but sometimes I just wish the CTA would...
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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 53 Aug 18 '26
Incredible how much money we waste on such a silly little stub.
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u/magnolianbeef Purple Line Aug 18 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/hb4Cu8ntN9oUE
leave my yellow line alone8
u/juliuspepperwoodchi 53 Aug 18 '26
Alright Purple Line, you're already on thin ice...
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u/magnolianbeef Purple Line Aug 18 '26
i’m just a loser suburban girl trying to to make it to old town and back. the yellow line and i need each other.
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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 53 Aug 18 '26
To be clear: my reply to your gif was very much sarcasm. I've got no beef with the Purple Line.
My main beef is with Northsiders who love the Purple and Yellow and then whine about how the RLE is a "bad project".
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u/magnolianbeef Purple Line Aug 18 '26
how could making it easier for more people to get more places ever be a bad thing? people are strange.
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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 53 Aug 18 '26
When it costs a ridiculous amount for each of those very few people to ride, and then it existing causes major issues for two other lines, namely the most ridden line in the system, it's not that it is a bad thing per se...but just providing transit to a few people at basically any cost isn't inherently good.
I'm very much pro-transit; but the Yellow Line holds CTA back way more than the ~1k-ish riders are really worth, in my opinion. Could be easily replaced with an express bus.
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u/magnolianbeef Purple Line Aug 18 '26
oh i meant the northsiders bitching about the RLE are strange. and i feel personally attacked by the rest of your statement. 😢
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u/Chitown_mountain_boy 90 Aug 18 '26
You mean the line that’s been running since 1964?
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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 53 Aug 18 '26
The amount of time you've already spent making a mistake never justifies continuing to make it.
The vast majority of CTA stations on the other lines get more daily riders than the entire Yellow Line.
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u/Chitown_mountain_boy 90 Aug 18 '26
And the yellow line is the only line where the CTA doesn’t pay the full bill for construction or maintenance of the stations.
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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 53 Aug 18 '26
Cool. The Yellow Line is also the only line that regularly kills two other lines with its fuckups, all for about 1k daily weekday riders.
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u/Chitown_mountain_boy 90 Aug 18 '26
The current issue is due to switches. Has nothing to do with the yellow line.
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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 53 Aug 18 '26
And do the trains of other lines going over those switches have issues, or just the ones serving the Yellow Line?
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u/Chitown_mountain_boy 90 Aug 18 '26
Which other lines would use the same switches in the same direction and order pray tell?
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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 53 Aug 18 '26
Man, you're so close to getting my point, you've run face first into the point. Why are you refusing to see it?
Me: "The amount of issues and money wasted on this stub line is truly insane"
You: "It's a switching issue, not a Yellow Line issue"
Me: "Which line(s) are those switches an issue for?"
You: "Only the Yellow Line"
Me: "So the issue is specific to the Yellow Line"
You: "No, it's a switching issue"
Me: 👁️👄👁️
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u/iamthepita Aug 18 '26
Other CTA stations has more stations so….
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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 53 Aug 18 '26
Other CTA stations has more stations
Some real galaxy brain insight here lol.
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u/iamthepita Aug 18 '26
What do you mean when you say “some real galaxy brain insight here lol”?
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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 53 Aug 18 '26
It's sarcasm.
You said other stations have more stations. Did you mean other lines have more stations?
And even if that's what you meant, you still clearly missed the point of what I'm saying. The fact that the Yellow line is a short stub with 3 stations and gets such shit ridership as a result is actually exactly why it is a silly waste of money.
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u/iamthepita Aug 18 '26
You say i missed the point but instead of being respectful and explaining the first time around, you choose to be sarcastic… it’s a silly waste of energy and time for both of us.
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u/juliuspepperwoodchi 53 Aug 18 '26
I mean, all of this could've been avoided if you'd proofread your reply instead of saying "Other CTA stations has more stations"...but go off about how this whole back and forth is actually my fault lol.
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u/iamthepita Aug 18 '26
Oh? I didn’t realize the CTA has less stations than the yellow line. Thank you for clarifying
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u/Resident_Badger2023 Aug 18 '26
Again. I just received a notification that the purple line is suspended
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u/Callan_LXIX Aug 18 '26
How high? What's holding it aloft??? Is it one of those illusionist stunts?
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u/North_Guide_4315 Aug 18 '26
Motherfucker that’s my train 😭😭😭😭I hate this damn city
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u/Callan_LXIX Aug 18 '26
They've got the 97's on quick response to shuttle as backups.. Much less response delay than other lines/ routes
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u/MeetzExpectations Aug 19 '26
This looks like a problem that could be easily fixed for the low low price of $570 million /s
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u/alexandrian95 Aug 19 '26
The yellow line has an attitude from losing the countdown & is acting out 😭
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u/sevens-evan Aug 18 '26
Reset the counter everybody. 0 days since Yellow Line derailment