CTA Blue Line Project

Your New Blue improvement program is a series of modernization projects along the Chicago Transit Authority's (CTA) Blue Line O'Hare Branch running between the Grand station just outside the Loop and O'Hare station at O'Hare International Airport. This 19-mile stretch of the O'Hare Branch, portions of which date back to 1895, will benefit from various track, power, signals and station improvements, including:

• Extensive station renovations at the Grand, Chicago, Division, Damen, California, Logan Square and Jefferson Park stations.
• Concrete platform repairs and installation of a new elevator at the Addison station to make it ADA accessible.
• Repairs at the Irving Park, Montrose, Harlem and Cumberland stations.
• Track improvements to eliminate and prevent slow zones along the Milwaukee elevated track (Division to Logan Square) and along the stretch of track running from Rosemont to O'Hare.
• Track signal improvements between Jefferson Park and O'Hare.
• Traction power upgrades to improve service and reliability.
• Installation of new water management systems and repairs to ensure dry and clean subway stations.

The improvements are necessary to keep pace with growing ridership, which on the O'Hare Branch has outpaced the rail system as a whole over the past 10 years. The line serves 80,000 customers each weekday and had more than 26 million station entries in 2014.