Copyright Chicago Sun-Times
All Loop elevated stations will be closed for track work over the weekend starting Saturday morning, impacting four train lines, according to the CTA. Starting at 4 a.m. Saturday, the Brown, Green, Orange and Pink lines will be impacted as the Clark/Lake, State/Lake, Washington/Wabash, Adams/Wabash, Harold Washington Library, LaSalle/Van Buren, Quincy and Washington/Wells stops will close until 2 a.m. Monday. The Brown line will operate normally between Kimball and Merchandise Mart, and Orange Line trains will continue to operate normally between Midway and Roosevelt, according to the CTA. Green Line trains will also operate normally between Harlem/Lake and Clinton, and between Roosevelt and 63rd Street. For the gaps in the Green and Orange lines, free shuttle buses will run between Roosevelt and Clinton every four to 12 minutes, stopping along State, Washington and Madison before connecting back to the still-running trains at the Roosevelt station. More service will be added during peak travel hours. Another free shuttle will bridge the gap in Brown line service, running between the Merchandise Mart and Harold Washington Library stops every 5-12 minutes while stopping near other Loop CTA stations. Pink line trains will go to the Racine Blue line station after Polk where riders can transfer to the Blue Line to get downtown. The service disruption is to repair track switching equipment at the Tower 18 rail junction, which sits at Lake and Wells streets and is the busiest stretch of track in the city’s system, with roughly 700 trains passing through on an average weekday, according to the CTA. The closed Loop stations will also undergo flooring and platform repairs, pigeon mitigation, lighting changes, staircase and canopy repairs and general repainting.
