A rider campaign for the CTA 'L'
One seat from Kimball to Midway. Fewer trains crossing at the busiest junction on the CTA. No new track.
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The problem
Tower 18, at Lake and Wells, is “the busiest section of track in the entire CTA system” (CTA, Oct 2025) and “one of the busiest rail interlockings in the nation” (CTA, Oct 2026). When trains have to cross each other's paths there, someone waits. You've heard the announcement: “We are standing momentarily, waiting for signal clearance” (CTA).
CTA's capacity study names the fixes: “adjusting Loop routing patterns” and “simplifying movements at junctions” (CTA Rail Capacity Study, p.7). It’s the same kind of problem CTA spent big to fix at Belmont, where “Red, Purple, and Brown line trains must wait for each other to pass through the junction” (CTA/FTA, 2015). This proposal is about how CTA routes trains, nothing more.
The fix
Kimball → Merchandise Mart → Wells → Van Buren → Roosevelt → Midway
And back the same way. No loop-the-Loop. No left turn across traffic at Tower 18.
What riders get
Brown stops turning across other lines' paths. CTA’s study says “simplifying movements at junctions increases trains possible on Loop” (CTA Rail Capacity Study, p.7). How much? Not yet measured. That's what the study is for.
Ravenswood, Lincoln Square and Lakeview get a straight ride to the Southwest Side and Midway Airport. CTA already runs a few weekday rush trips that carry on from Orange to Brown and back: 4 each way (CTA Brown Line timetable).
CTA’s capacity study says “Kimball Yard does not have space to store more trains, limiting the number of trains that can be operated on the Brown Line” (CTA Rail Capacity Study, p.7). Through-running makes sharing Midway Yard routine.
Green keeps its route on Lake and Wabash. Green riders lose nothing.
Heading to Wabash or State? Change at Roosevelt or Merchandise Mart. It's a real tradeoff, so we're asking for a pilot and timed transfers.
The price tag
Reported cost of the Belmont flyover (Red-Purple Bypass), built to fix one junction conflict (NBC Chicago; Chicago Sun-Times). It's part of CTA's $2.1B RPM Phase One (CTA).
Through-running Brown and Orange is an operations-only fix: new schedules, signs and training. No new track. Not free, and some costs are unknown, but a different scale entirely.
Fairness
Our view: CTA is putting $492M into “Your New Blue” on the O'Hare branch (CTA). That's a worthwhile investment. But North Side riders still can't reach Midway without a transfer. Midway and the Southwest Side should get a better connection too, and this one is mostly a scheduling change.
FAQ
If you ride Brown or Orange to Washington/Wabash, State/Lake or Adams/Wabash, you'd transfer at Roosevelt or Merchandise Mart. That's a real tradeoff, so we're asking for a pilot and timed transfers.
Running along Wells and Van Buren links Kimball and Midway directly. It removes Brown's left turn at Tower 18 and the full-Loop trip for both lines, and Green stays on Lake and Wabash.
No. Signs, schedules, operator training and yard changes all cost something, and any signal changes at Tower 18 or Tower 12 are unknown. But it needs no new track, which is why we call it low-cost and operations-only.
It could free up capacity. Nobody has quantified the gain publicly, and that's why we want a study.
Yes, a few. The current Brown Line timetable shows 4 weekday trips each way that run through between the Orange and Brown lines (CTA Brown Line timetable). Riders call them “tiger trains” (Streetsblog Chicago), and CTA said Kimball Yard “simply doesn’t have enough capacity” for the full morning rush.
No. Waiting for Signals is an independent rider campaign. The maps on this site are unofficial and are not CTA products.
The ask
Publicly study a west-and-south Brown–Orange interline, including a pilot option, and publish the Tower 18 and Tower 12 capacity results.
Brown, Orange or any line through the Loop: show CTA and NITA that riders want this studied.
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